


Tattered Souls

by Skycrystal23



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Ben Hardy - Freeform, F/M, Touch-Starved, angel - Freeform, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:02:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 41,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23082928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skycrystal23/pseuds/Skycrystal23
Summary: A smile appeared on her face but just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared when she saw who was with them.The sun reflected off of his silver wings, almost like a mirror the light was splattered against the ceiling. His clothes hung loose, obviously from the hospitals lost and found. The way the sunlight hit the mess of blond curls made it look like he had a halo. He would have truly been angelic if it weren’t for the menacing look on his face. Or the fact that Warren Worthington III was anything but an angel.
Relationships: Jean Grey/Scott Summers, Warren Worthington III/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

There was a loud crash in the room down the hallway. A siren went off followed by a dozen or so Nurses and orderlies running towards the room. It had been an early start for her. A sense of dread and a nervousness tickled her chest. Her hands were in her lap fidgeting as she waited for the Professor to reappear. The man disappeared ten minutes ago into the same room all of the medical personnel just rushed to. There were so many more kids at the school he could have called upon for the job.

She knew it was because of her mutation. Details on why she was here was still blank but she knew he didn’t call her here just for the hell of it. There were a thousand scenarios bouncing back and forth in her skull. The lack of information was only making her more nervous. The hospital was fairly standard with the exception of the top floor she was currently sitting in. Everything was much cleaner and far more secured. Just by the Nurses station alone there were two armored men with guns.

The door down the hall opened and she perked up, head turning to see the Professor coming down the hall in his wheelchair. There were not many people in this waiting room. In fact, there were only two others and one of them she believed was a patient. They looked dead behind the eyes. Recently there was a big fight against this scary Egyptian god Apocalypse. Her friends were there to stop him, she was side lined and for good reason. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally hurt someone.

“Mia, if you wouldn’t mind...” Charles trailed off.

A deep breath was drawn into her lungs and she nodded. The man spun around in his wheelchair and led her down the hallway to the same room that was just on near lockdown. There was a window outside the room that they lingered in front of. From what she could see someone was being held down to the bed inside. The person was fighting hard against them, she could hear their muffled voice from outside. Before one of the orderlies could properly restrain the persons wrist they jumped up. She turned to the Professor, slightly panicked.

“Name?” she signed over to him in ASL.

“Warren, his names Warren,” Charles said, a mild concern in his voice.

Mia ran over to the door and pulled the handle down letting herself inside. The Nurses were screaming and two of the orderlies had been knocked over. Sun was filtering in through the blinds and reflecting off something metal. When she lowered her arm, she saw the large sharp wings. She opened her mouth to speak when he whipped around. The boy was tall and looked to be her age or maybe a year older. His face was bruised, similar deep bruises were flowered down the side of his neck and disappeared underneath he hospital gown.

“Warren can you do me a favour and sit down on the bed,” her voice was like silk.

There was a dazed look in his eyes. The defensive stance he had dropped and he headed over to the bed, sitting like instructed. Behind her the door opened, Professor Xavier coming inside in his wheelchair. The orderlies looked to her for guidance, some of them confused at the patient’s sudden compliance. She walked over, her footsteps cautious, and stood in front of him. There was dried blood around his nose, a cut in his lip and forehead, not to mention the other injuries hidden beneath the gown.

Just from the wings alone and tattoos lining his face she knew who he was. This was one of Apocalypse’s horsemen. The one that her friends fought. She saw pictures and brief news clips from the fight. His curly blond hair was in a mow hawk type cut practically flattened to his head. She pulled at her fingers and looked back at the Professor who simply nodded at her. Mia turned her head and looked back to Warren, he stared intently at her.

“You’re going to calm down and let the Nurses do their job. You will not fight them or so much as speak unless asked a question. Do you understand?” she asked, eyes batting.  
He nodded.

After that she took a step back, making her way over to her Professor to let the Nurses and orderlies do their job. Speaking was dangerous, even the most minute question or statement could have someone under her spell. This Warren was intriguing, she could feel him fighting the persuasion. There were a few who could and have successfully broken from her command. It was usually those with incredibly strong minds like Jean or the Professor. This was why she didn’t speak.

Her commands even now were the first time she has spoken in a week and a half. Well, at least her speaking to a person. When she was by herself listening to music, she tended sing quietly or hum along to the tune.

“Quite impressive, you’re getting better at controlling it,” Charles’ voice echoed in her head.

She smiled, “I’ve been practicing with Jean, getting her to do small things,”

The man nodded, mouth curling up into a small smile. He was happy to see his students excelling. Mia kept her eyes on the boy. Her head was aching, he really didn’t like being told what to do. From what she had learned, people under her control were still conscious. Jean described it to her as being in a movie theatre and watching everything you do happen with the exception of still feeling everything. Holding this was becoming increasingly difficult the longer she stayed, not to mention the fact that it was quite draining.

“He’s fighting me. I shouldn’t keep him under like this,” her voice said weak in her head.

The orderlies had long since handcuffed the blond’s left hand to the beds rail. Mia wasn’t really used to subduing someone like this. Usually she practiced by getting someone to do something as simple as get a glass of water or tie their shoes. There was a sharp pain that flared in her brain, she yelled and clutched her head. As soon as that happened her control broke, she felt the connection between the two of them sever.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” the blond yelled from his bed.

He went to pull away from the bed only for him to notice his hand cuffed to the bed. The orderlies were about to grab him again when Charles held his hand out, pausing their movements.

“That’s enough. It was for your own good, you were a danger to yourself and others,” the man explained.

“Piss off,” Warren spat.

His eyes met hers again. They hardened, brows furrowing and the lines in his forehead deepening. He was pissed off to say the least. Mia crossed her arms and stepped further back. The way he was glaring at her made it feel like his eyes were burning holes into her skin.

“I’m talking to you! What the hell did you do to me?” he hissed.

Mia was unsure of what to do. She opened her mouth to speak and stopped herself, lips forming a thin line. Immediately her hands started to move, signing over a quick explanation to him. Of course, he only became more confused and angrier.

“Well I know you can fucking speak, I’m not bloody deluded,”

“Perhaps we can settle down on the cursing,” Charles tried to stop him for everyone’s sake.

Warren growled, “I’ll kill you,”

“Right now, Mr. Worthington I am the only one keeping you out of the governments grasp. If you want to keep it that way I would recommend complying to the best of your ability,”

The slightest mention of the government in that context made her shudder. There were stories about the experiment’s scientists did on other mutants. It would have happened to her as well if Professor Xavier didn’t step in and offer her a place at his school. The angel huffed; his glare still as sharp as his wings but he didn’t say anything. His silence was for the best. Mia left the room a minute later and waited out in the waiting room once again. She was no longer needed in there so why stay?

It was a few hours until the Professor reappeared. After much negotiating and some ultimatums, he managed to get the boys signature. Every mutant who was a permanent residence at the school had to surrender their custody to the school. On the car ride back, Hank picked them up, she looked over the papers. She wasn’t necessarily supposed to but it didn’t look like they had noticed. Warren was eighteen going on nineteen in a few months, she gauged that he was around a month older than her. There was also the fact that he’d already been in the hospital for two days prior to today’s arrival.

There wasn’t much to go on. A lot of the papers his messy signature was scrawled on were replicas of the ones she had signed herself. When the familiar gravel began rolling underneath the tires of the car, she put the papers away. Charles turned back in his seat to look at her when the car stopped in front of the doors.

“Thank you for your assistance Mia. It was very brave,” he said with a smile.

He was so kind to her. Charles knew how much fear she harbored regarding her mutation. It wasn’t fair, truly it wasn’t. Hank was the first one out of the car to retrieve the Professor’s wheelchair from the trunk. Mia climbed out as well and started heading for the doors.

“Mia, you're back!”

She jumped when Kurt appeared next to her. There was a smile on his face as he grabbed her arm and bamf-ed away to somewhere within the mansion. Her friends were waiting for her in the living room. It was movie night and since they heard about her nerve-wrecking day Scott allowed her to pick the movie. That night was lovely. It certainly didn’t prepare her or anyone for the next few days.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mia couldn't have been at a worse place than she was when Warren arrived to the school.

Three days later Mia was sitting on the staircase facing the doors. The large windows illuminated the foyer bright enough to do her homework. Other students were walking by or occasionally heading up and down the grand staircase to their classes. Peter and Kurt were playing a strange game of tag throughout the mansion. Every once in awhile one of them would appear either on the steps or at the foot of the case. It was a quiet day, she loved it. The front doors opened, she looked up to see Hank and Charles.

A smile appeared on her face but just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared when she saw who was with them. Everyone seemed to stop. There was a collectively held breath amongst the scattered group of students. Raven was the last person to enter through the big doors, closing them behind her. The smell of Sulphur filled her nose, she looked to her left to see Kurt now seated next to her on the stairs. If she thought it was quiet before she was dead wrong. It was so silent she could hear the grandfather clock ticking down the hall.

The sun reflected off of his silver wings, almost like a mirror the light was splattered against the ceiling. His clothes hung loose, obviously from the hospitals lost and found. The way the sunlight hit the mess of blond curls made it look like he had a halo. He would have truly been angelic if it weren’t for the menacing look on his face. The blond was still handcuffed, everyone gasped when Raven unlocked them. It looked more like it was the Professor’s decision to do that considering the annoyed look on her face as she did it.

“Surely you have classes to attend!” the Professor announced loudly.

There was a squeak of voices as the younger students jumped and sprinted away. Everyone knew what happened with Apocalypse. The destruction was everywhere and some areas were still just in the beginning of recovery. Charles clapped his hands together gleefully, eyes locking onto the girl sitting shocked on the staircase. Mia knew that Warren would be here at some point. She just wished that point wouldn’t have been when she was front and center on the staircase.

“Ah Mia! I was wondering if you could assist Jubilee with being our new students guide,” Charles asked with a grin.

She blinked a few times. It took a moment for his request to actually sink into her brain. Kurt gently patted her shoulder, whispering his condolences before disappearing. When Warren laid eyes on her he scoffed. Before he could whip out one of his snide remarks or insults there were rather quick footsteps. Jubilee came sprinting down the staircase, jumping off the last few steps and landing on the floor in front of the small group. When the girl laid eyes on who she would be taking on a tour all the colour drained from her face. A curt laugh escaped the boy’s lips.

Mia stood from the stairs, tucking her homework back into her bag, and walked over to Jubilee. Her hand gently grabbed onto the other girl’s arm. Warren rubbed his wrists, fingers smoothing over the red rings caused by the cuffs. There was a bandage wrapped around his left wrist. She wondered how tight the cuff had been on him, it was either that or he was trying all too hard to escape.

“I assure you Mia he won’t hurt you or Jubilee,” the Professor said in her head.

The angel walked towards them, just stopping a little bit before them so that his shadow drowned them from the sunlight. The light behind him outlined his body giving off an ethereal glow. Jubilee laughed nervously and flared her hands up, small colourful fireworks escaped and popped into the air.

“Welcome to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters...” all enthusiasm left her voice by the end.

His intense gaze was focused solely on Mia. She averted her eyes and instead stared at the colourful sparks sailing towards the floor.

“So what? Now you don’t breathe a word? Pretty damn cocky when you possessed me,” he taunted.

“Shall we go? We can start off with a tour of the grounds!” Jubilee said trying to steer the unwanted attention from Mia.

“He’s not allowed outside without adult supervision,” Raven said with a cough.

Warren looked over his shoulder at Raven and snarled, “Piss off blue bit -”

“How about those stairs? I bet they would be even nicer if we started walking up them!” Jubilee cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

The tour was painfully long. Mia stood as close to Jubilee as she could. As Jubilee babbled on about each room Warren’s eyes would dart around taking in the new surroundings. She was once like that except with less anger and more fear. When they came to the living room, she saw her friends lingering on the couch. They immediately tensed up and threw nasty stares towards the winged boy.

“...and this is the living room! Movie nights are on -”

“Jubilee shush! Movie nights aren’t for everyone,” Scott hissed.

Warren mumbled something under his breath, most likely an insult.

The tour continued on until they got to the dormitory corridors. Jubilee’s pigtails bounced back and forth as she walked ahead of them. She was behind Warren, making sure to keep her distance. There were holes in the back of the shirt for his wings to pop through, she wondered how he even got it on in the first place. Warren’s room was three doors down from her own. For a moment she wasn’t paying attention, eyes focused on the carpets patterning. His right wing flared outwards blocking her from moving forward, she yelped and stumbled back when she felt the cool metal touch her arm.

He chuckled, a nasty look in his eyes geared only for her. Jubilee stopped her speech and turned around frowning at Warren.

“I’d watch your wings, Professor Xavier would kill if there were any scratches on the walls,” Jubilee warned.

“Whatever,” he responded, wing drawing back to fold to his back.

Warren got a room to himself for accommodate for his wings. At least that’s what Jubilee told him. No one would share a room with the guy even if Professor Xavier promised straight A’s for whoever did. The room was pretty standard. It lacked personal charm but surely as time went on, he would make it his own. Mia stayed leaning against the doorframe while Mia ran over some basic dormitory rules. His arms were crossed, he looked like he had tuned Jubilee out a long time ago.

“Anything to add Mia?” Jubilee asked turning her attention to the girl at the door.

Immediately his eyes were drawn to her.

“Not really,” she signed over.

He huffed when she didn’t speak. His gaze lowered to her hands as they moved in such fluid motion. Jubilee seemed a little confused. The girl didn’t know a lot of ASL but she was working on getting better at it!

“Bitch,” he spat.

Mia sighed and left heading down the hall to her room. Jubilee shook her head and frowned, she was going to go speak to Mia later and try to cheer her up in some way. But before leaving she turned back in the doorway and looked to the angel.

“I would watch what you say to her. She could tell you to jump off the roof and you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself,” she warned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warren's causing Mia trouble again, still angry from the way she manipulated him in the hospital. Mia gets a little more personal with him than she would've liked after a mishap with his wings and her voice.

People in the hallways began to whisper. They whispered about the deadly angel who wouldn’t leave his room. Mia always checked before leaving her room if he was nearby. The last thing she wanted or needed was him knowing just how close they were. There was a knock at her door late into the night stirring her from sleep. The bed to her right was empty and perfectly made like it usually was. It was a request to the Professor to have a room to herself. She didn’t want any mishaps if she started to sleep talk.

The knocking was insistent and only growing louder. She begrudgingly pulled herself from her bed and shuffled over to the door. Jean was stood outside in the hallway with a pillow tucked under her arm.

“She won’t stop snoring, can I please come in?” she asked, her voice a low whisper.

“What if something happens? What if I speak?” Mia signed rather quickly.

“I trust you,” Jean said with a smile.

It was nerve wrecking have someone in here with her. During the day was fine but if she became tired, she worried she would speak. Jean made herself at home, taking up residence in the empty bed across from her own. The redhead roomed with Jubilee who was notorious for having a snoring problem. Most days Jean could stand it but tonight was quite irritating. Kurt definitely wouldn’t let her in his and Scott’s shared room. The mutants only reasoning was because he didn’t trust the two of them together in there for too long.

“You’re the best,” Jean whispered as she settled under the blankets.

Mia nodded slowly and shuffled back over to her own bed. It was hard to go back to sleep. Jean was asleep in no time, grateful for the newfound silence. Mia flipped over several times and squeezed her eyes shut but to no avail. The worry in her stomach wouldn’t settle. After an hour she climbed back out of her bed and slid her slippers on. She made sure Jean was still sound asleep as she slipped out of the room. The mansion was silent. It creaked and wheezed its settling sounds as she walked the halls to the kitchen.

She stopped at the doorway and quickly moved to the side plastering herself to the wall. Someone was in there rooting through the drawers and cupboards. Her neck twisted and she peered inside at the angel rummaging through everything. She wondered what he was looking for. Suddenly he stopped and looked back, she quickly ducked back out of sight. It was a long minute she waited for. When it seemed safe, she looked back in only to be face to face with him. A hand grabbed onto her arm yanking her into the kitchen.

“What the hell do you want?” he growled.

The shelf above her shook when he pushed her back against the wall. His fingers were wrapped around her arm tight, blue eyes searching her face for anything at all.

“Speak,” he demanded.

When she tried to sign with her free hand, he pushed it down with his wing, “Use your voice,”

Goosebumps rose along her skin feeling the cold metal pressed against her arm. She didn’t dare shift of fear of one of the blades cutting her. The harsh ceiling lights glinting off of him made his wings that much more intimidating. He was starting to get annoying and a tad scary.

“Warren stop,” she said, words rolling far too easily off her tongue.

He let go of her immediately and stepped back, his wings quickly folding in. It took a second but he finally came back to his senses, looking around as if he had just woken up. Sometimes it was a little jarring come out of her control. She noticed the blood that was then dripping down his arm and onto the tile floor. Warren suddenly hissed and rose his arm to see the blood running down in a steady stream.

Mia’s eyes went wide, she grabbed his arm without thinking. When he tried to pull his arm back, she only tightened her grip. Slowly her hands moved up his bicep, moving the wet fabric of his t-shirt sleeve to show a nasty gash in the back of his arm. She caught a glimpse of red on one of the blades of his wing.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...” she whispered in a panic.

Immediately she removed her hand and tore a jagged strip of fabric from the bottom of her shirt. Quickly she wrapped it around his arm to try and stop it from bleeding or at least slow it down. Gently she tugged on his wrist to get him to follow but he wouldn’t budge. There was defiance in his eyes, as well as a look of murder but that wasn’t different from any other day. She motioned with her hand for him to follow her. The last thing she wanted to do was utter another demand.

“Follow me!” she signed quickly and then waved her hand for him to follow once again.

Reluctantly he followed, probably because he was starting to feel a little light headed. There was a small infirmary in the basement of the mansion. It wasn’t anything too crazy but she knew it had a medical kit.

“Your fault,” he muttered as she dragged him into the infirmary.

Her hands moved to his shoulders, pushing him down to sit in one of the chairs. The silver wings spilled over the sides of the chair, he shifted around uncomfortable. She whispered to herself as quiet as a mouse as she rummaged through the drawers looking for the suture kit. Warren tried listening in but the sounds of the cupboards opening and closing were loud enough to muffle her words. Finally, she found it, dragging it out of the cupboard and dashing back over to Warren. When he saw her pull out the needle his wings flared out.

“Do you even know how to do a stitch?” he asked leaning away from her.

Mia rocked her hand back and forth, about fifty-fifty. Hank had showed her how to stitch someone up before. Just in case something happened and she needed to act as nurse. Her free hand, dyed red from the blood, cautiously moved towards his arm. When he didn’t move away from her, she took that as an okay to move forward. She unwrapped the damp piece of fabric and dropped it on the floor. Slim fingers were feather light against his skin as she slowly pushed the fabric of his sleeve up.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

The sutures hurt. Warren’s been through worse than this but that still didn’t mean he couldn’t wince. With every stab of the needle he clutched the arm of the chair harder. He shifted in the chair mid stitch, needle stabbing a millimeter before where it was supposed to go. When she dragged it back out, he balled up his other hand and bit his knuckles. She frowned. Despite his avid hatred towards her she still didn’t wish to see him in any pain. Especially if it was something she did. The next stitch when in, she pulled up and immediately started the next one.

“Fuck,” he muttered into his hand.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Stop apologizing,” he retorted.

Mia continued the last two stitches, having to grab his arm at one point to remind him to stay still. Once it was stitched, she took a cotton pad and poured antiseptic onto it. She was about to whisper another apology but refrained from what he last told her. Warren grimaced when he saw what was next.

“Get on with it,”

It must have hurt because he immediately squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled sharply. His wings tensed up behind him and for a moment Mia thought they were going to cut her. She cleaned the wound as best as she could and then proceeded to wipe the blood from the rest of his arm. The blond’s shoulders sagged when he felt her fingers delicate travel down his arm. She noticed his face relax yet his eyes still remained closed. Slowly she worked her way down his arm until she reached his hand. For a moment she paused noticing the scars over his knuckles.

Mia was ever so careful as she took his hand and began dabbing away the blood with the antiseptic wipe. Her ears tuned into his soft breaths, in and out in and out. Most of the blood was on the flip side so she gently flipped his hand over, palm facing up. Her fingers trailed down his forearm like a dance. She noticed the goosebumps rise along his skin and the way his wings pulled closer to his back. It only took a minute but for Warren it felt like ages. The last thing Mia did was wrap a bandage around his arm over the closed wound.

The girl turned her back to him and began to put the suture kit back together. He let his eyes crack open, gaze casting down to his hand. It was like he could still feel her fingers moving up his arm, trailing down his forearm. She felt his eyes on her as she walked across the room to put the kit away in its drawer. Next to the cupboard was a sink, she quickly scrubbed the blood from her hands. When she turned back around, he was standing by one of the mirrors looking at his wings. They had a harsh glisten to them under the bright white lights. On her way over she grabbed a cloth and handed it to him then pointed to the blood coating the edge of one of the blades. She suddenly felt tired.

“Goodnight,” she signed to him slowly.

“You keep doing that like I understand,”

“It means goodnight,” she replied quietly while doing it again but slower.

After that she headed back to her room, getting there fast enough so that he didn’t see. Jean was still fast asleep, soft breaths escaping her lips. The clock on Mia’s bedside table read: 3:15 am. With her eyes closed the only thing she kept playing back in her mind was the way Warren relaxed when she touched his arm. Suddenly he didn’t seem so terrifying, he was just a person like her. Maybe a little angry but still a person.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slowly but surely Warren is starting to learn what it's like to be around people his own age.

Lunch was about as normal as it could be at a school full of mutant kids. Mia was sat at a table sandwiched between Jean and Jubilee. Across from them were Scott and Kurt, Kurt was currently telling them about a new book he recently started reading. His peculiar eyes twinkled as he excitedly explained all the new things he was finding out. This book was in reality a textbook on species found in the ocean. Scott cracked a joke about Kurt blending in with the blue water if he were to go swimming at the ocean. It was a terrible joke that received only pity laughs, Scott of course looked away embarrassed.

Regular lunch chatter quickly turned to hushed whispers. Mia leaned back in her chair and looked towards the doors to see Warren. He looked rather out of place, eyes searching the room and the sea of people. A leather jacket she hadn’t seen before covered his arms, she once again wondered how he managed to get it one with such sharp wings. Her eyes followed him through the cafeteria as he got in line and picked out his food. This was the first time she had seen him out of his room during school hours.

His wings tucked tighter against his back when a few kids hesitantly walked by him. Mia remembered her first few weeks at the school. The loneliness, uncertainty, she had no one to sit with. Warren looked like he didn’t know what to do. She wondered if he’d been to school before. Scott snickered at something, drawing her attention back to her group of friends.

“Ten bucks says he’ll make one of the kids scream,” Scott says with a grin.

Jean shakes her head, “No – fifteen says his wings get caught in the door,”

“I do not think speaking of him like this is very nice,” Kurt opposed with a slight frown.

Scott clapped the blue mutant on the back a few times and laughed. He began a whole minor argument with Kurt. The teleporter always saw the good in people and she envied him for how pure of heart he was. She looked over her shoulder, Warren still looked lost. Something didn’t settle right with her. Perhaps it was because she could see herself in his position. Mia stood from her seat and gathered her half-eaten food back onto her tray. Her friends all looked to her, Jean raised an eyebrow.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

A kid yelled; Scott was looking past her grinning like a maniac. Mia didn’t bother answering, turning around and walking towards Warren. His wings were splayed out for everyone to see. The little girl in front of him was maybe eleven, tears in her eyes. There was a small cut on her hand, she must have touched one of the blades. She stopped next to him, giving him a little nudge in the side with her elbow. It was gentle enough to get his attention. He looked down at her surprised.

“She grabbed me and I just...” he trailed off unable to fully explain himself.

Mia placed her tray on one of the tables and held her hand out to the girl. She gently placed her hand in Mia’s. It didn’t look too bad, honestly it looked like one long papercut across her palm.

“Go to Professor Hank, tell him Mia sent you and show him your hand,” she whispered to the girl.

It wasn’t long until the crying stopped and the girl walked away. Mia stood and grabbed her tray, motioning with her head for him to follow. She took a seat at an empty table across the room. Warren lingered on the other side of it, unsure if to sit or not.

“Sit,” she signed to him, immediately after she motioned with her hand for him to sit so that he understood better.

Her friends were sure going to have a field day with this later. Their opinions on the angel varied from utter hatred to neutrality. So, Kurt didn’t exactly like him but he also didn’t exactly hate the guy. Warren finally took a seat across from her, he stared for the longest time at his food. Mia continued eating her food, Warren simply stared. If Professor Xavier saw her now, he would be utterly proud. Probably because she was interacting with someone else for a change. Not that the x-men weren’t great but Professor Xavier wished that she expanded her friend list.

The two of them started to eat their lunch together like this. Jean had been questioning her reasoning for this sudden friendliness with the bad guy. Kurt was the first one to come around. He entered the lunch room one day and sat down with Warren and Mia instead of in the usual spot. Warren was stubbornly quiet while Kurt chatted.

“I am sorry about your wings, I didn’t mean to hurt you like that,” Kurt apologized, he was so sincere.

“Wings?” Mia questioned; his wings looked fine.

“I was thrown in the cage with him, he is a very good fighter,” Kurt explained.

The girl knew about Kurt’s past, or at least most of it. Raven saved him from a mutant cage-fighting ring. From what she heard it wasn’t a very voluntary fight. Her eyes flickered over to Warren’s hands. The scars on his knuckles were no longer a mystery to her.

“He had these big white wings, like an angel, but they got -”

“Shut up,” Warren warned, his hands were balled into fists.

Mia tilted her head to the side. She wondered what he would look like with fluffy white wings. In her mind she tried so hard to replace the sharp silver wings with something more angelic. It was strange and no matter how much she tried to will her brain to conjure the image it just wouldn’t happen.

“But Warren they were so -” Kurt stopped mid-sentence when one of Warren’s talons embedded itself into the table.

The outburst made the cafeteria grow scarily silent. All eyes were on their table, well more like all eyes were on Warren. The table screeched making her cringe when he pulled the sharp talon out. He looked around at the sea of eyes glued to him. Less than a moment and he was turned around and heading out of the cafeteria. Mia got up only for Kurt to grab her arm and lightly tug her back down into her seat.

He shook his head, “We should leave him alone for a while,” Kurt’s accent made his w’s sound more like v’s.

“You should not talk about his wings like that, he probably misses them,” Mia signed with a frown.

Warren was absent for the rest of the day. He didn’t even show his face at dinner which broke his two-week streak of showing up. Her friends were awaiting her at the usual table. Scott smirked when she walked up to the table with her tray.

“What? Did bird boy not show up?” he teased.

At this point she didn’t have the energy to even argue with him. She took her place at the end of table next to Jean and immediately began eating. What happened at lunch had been replaying through her mind all day. No one really knew what Warren looked like before Apocalypse ‘improved’ his wings. Mia didn’t believe that they were really improved, hell he was constantly nicking his arms on the sharp things. Apocalypse wanted a weapon and that’s what he turned Warren into.

Jean leaned into her ear, “Scott’s just jealous that you and Kurt left his terrible jokes for the angel,”

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. That definitely sounded like Scott. There was a strong gust of wind that blew a few of her chips off of her plate. Peter appeared at the end of the table with a grin on his face and hands on his hips.

“I have an idea,” he sounded way too excited.

The speedster slid into the seat next to Mia and gave her a friendly nudge in the side. He had been M.I.A lately. Mostly because he was running errands for the Professor or stealing food from fast food places. She remembered one night when she woke up to him sitting at her desk eating a whole pie.

“So, I was running around like I do and I stumbled upon this awesome Drive In. Now there’s a new slasher playing tonight and I was thinking that we sneak out and go catch it in the Professor’s car,” he explained, he looked like an excited puppy.

“What is a Drive In?” Kurt asked.

“A movie theatre but outside,” Scott butted in.

Mia would have been down for it. But she didn’t want to leave the school. A touch of fear caressed her stomach. She could already imagine all of the different scenarios and things that could go wrong. For one, they could get expelled for stepping off school grounds without permission. There were also a lot of people who hated mutants even more after what Apocalypse did.

“Mia, you gonna come? I’ll even go as far as getting you to invite bird boy along if that means you’ll come,” Scott propositioned.

Now breaking the rules was not really a Mia thing to do. The school was her home and she lived in fear of being kicked out. If she were to be kicked out, she would have nowhere to go. They snuck out all the time, usually when the Professor was busy. But tonight, he was in the school which meant there was a higher chance of him finding out. She looked down at her hands and sighed.  


“If we get caught, I’ll say I convinced you into coming with us,” Jean said patting Mia’s shoulder.

She stood from the table and sighed, suddenly not hungry anymore. Warren was still on house arrest. He couldn’t exactly leave school grounds; well he couldn’t leave period. If they were to get caught with him with them, he would one-hundred percent be in more trouble than all of them combined. On the contrary, he also had had a rather rough day. Mia still didn’t know a lot about him and he was starting to talk less and less. Now that she thought about it, she was quite worried.

“You have to agree to treat him kindly,” she signed over to her friends.

“Cross my heart and hope to die, I will not make fun of the horseman,” Scott said while using his finger to make an X over his heart.

She was now standing in front of his bedroom door. How was she going to ask him? She wasn’t exactly too keen to test out her voice in case she accidentally makes him agree to something he doesn’t want to agree to. Mia probably stood staring at the thick wooden door for five minutes unable to figure out what to do. Kurt bamf-ed behind her and shook his head to see that she had yet to knock on the door.

“We were wondering what was taking so long,” he said, still shaking his head.

The mutant knocked on the door for her and bamf-ed away not even a second later. Her heart was hammering under her ribcage. This was the first time she had been near his room. She stood and waited and after a minute of no answer she knocked herself this time. It wasn’t a simple knock, more like a tune played against his door. She was about to knock one more time when the door opened. Warren’s annoyed expression, leisure attire and mused hair hinted that he was probably asleep. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe; blue eyes cast down to her.

“Would you like to come to the Drive-In theatre?” she signed over; head bowed as he eyes focused on her hands.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re saying,” he muttered running a hand down the side of his face.

Mia huffed. It was so hard to communicate when no one else really knew ASL. She didn’t expect Warren to know but it didn’t make it any less frustrating. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t a mutant. Her hand reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his sweater giving it a gentle tug.

“What?”

She pointed to the nearby window. The sun was almost full set, getting lost behind the tree line. Warren looked between her and the window trying to make sense of what she was trying to tell him. It only took a few more tugs and points for him to get it.

“Outside? Like head outside?” he asked.

Mia let out an exasperated sigh and nodded.

Warren grabbed his shoes from his room and closed the door behind him. He followed the nervous girl down the stairs and out a side door. Every step they took made her stomach sink deeper and deeper. When Warren saw the group of mutants squished into a convertible, he stopped walking.

“Hey bird -” Scott shut up when Jean smacked him in the back of the head.

Jubilee waved at the two and grinned, “Hi Warren! I’m glad you agreed to come to the Drive-In with us!”

Mia turned around and walked back to him, grabbing his wrist and walking him towards the car. There were a lot of people for such a small vehicle. Scott hummed to himself when he noticed the wing issue.

“You’re shit at communication,” Warren said quietly to Mia.

She spun around and glared at him, “You are shit at socialization,” she signed back in retort.

They made it to the Drive-In. A lot of people were staring at their car. Probably because it was crammed full of young adults. It was also probably because of the blue three-fingered mutant sitting in the front and an angel of death squished in the back. The very back seat of the convertible was quite small. The two of them were sat incredibly close, thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder. Warren was shifting around a lot trying to be comfortable as well as keep his wings away from Mia. With ever shift she could hear the metal slide around behind her, the sharp sound would send shivers down her spine.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was the first time a majority of them had ever been to a place like this. Kurt was the most enthusiastic, sitting with eyes wide and a grin plastered to his face. One of the characters on the screen screamed as the killer ran after them. She stole a glance at Warren sat beside her. His eyes were focused on the screen, the films reflection playing in his blue eyes. He shifted around again and looked back at his wings that were awkwardly stretched over the side and back of the car.

An idea bloomed in her head like a rapidly growing flower. She stood up in her seat, Warren immediately looking up at her. Mia sat down on the back of the convertible letting her legs hang over the back of the seat. She patted the spot next to her and slid over a little to make room for him. Warren was especially careful climbing up on the back of the car, taking a seat next to her. She noticed the way he rolled his shoulders and sighed. It surely was a lot more comfortable for his wings.

At one point during the film their legs ended up pressed together again. He was warm, she could feel the heat radiating off of him. Jean looked back at the two of them, she was cuddled up with Scott in the front. The redhead rolled her eyes, a hint of a smile touching her lips as she turned back around. Mia felt something poke her in the shoulder, she quickly looked back to see Warren’s wings lying back against the car. They glistened in the moonlight. She stared for quite a long time tracing the individual feathered blades with her eyes.

From what she saw and had seen there were four. Two large arching ones that swayed whenever he walked. Then there were the smaller secondary ones – they were the ones to watch out for when it came to get nicked by the blades. Warren suddenly shifted, his hip and shoulder now connected to hers. There wasn’t a lot of space on the back of the convertible but there was enough to leave space between the two of them. Mia didn’t complain though. There was a slight chill to the air and the warmth radiating off of him was enough to keep her semi-toasty.

The film ended not long after. Mia was struggling to keep her eyes open. The two of them slid off the back and down into their cramped seats. They sat closer on the ride back than they did on the way there. The mansion would be coming into sight soon as Scott drove down the windy road. Jubilee turned around in her seat and smiled at the two in the back.

“Wasn’t that movie so cool? I thought it was great! What did you think Warren?” she asked, a touch of fatigue to her voice.

He shrugged, “Fine,”

Jubilee pouted and turned her attention to Mia, “How did you like it? I saw that you moved, was it too cramped back there?”

Mia started to sign, “A little squishy,” she paused, “movie was good!”

The mansion came into view and they pulled into the gates. Scott drove as slowly as possible towards the garage to create as little sound as possible. In fact, he was going so slow everyone jumped out and began walking to the front leaving him to park the car. The large door creaked as Jean pushed it open. The group crept in and whispered their farewells to one another. Really it was just everyone saying goodbye to Mia and giving Warren an awkward nod. It was when they were walking down the corridor together, Mia and Warren, when she stopped in front of her door. She was too tired to realize what she was doing.

“I didn’t realize we were so close,” Warren pointed out, his voice a low whisper.

Mia’s face grew warm, “Goodnight,” she signed quickly.

“Goodnight,” he replied.

When she looked up at him, she saw the knowing smile on his face. The blond turned and headed the few doors down to his own room. Mia opened her door and slipped inside her own room. She changed into her pajamas and buried herself underneath a layer of blankets. Before she fell asleep, she remembered his wings and the way they shone in the moonlight, every minute detail, every bladed feather. She fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her words are dangerous, speaking is feared. It's a lucky that a certain angel takes effort in learning how to communicate in a wordless manner.

Another two weeks swept by as quickly as a wave pulls back out to sea. During lunch a week back Jean, Scott, and Jubilee left their table and came over to sit with them. Warren stayed quiet the entire lunch but Mia managed to see the tiny twinkle in his eyes. They began studying together. It turned out that Warren never actually finished High School so some of the work he needed a helping hand with. Mia didn’t mind, he was a good study partner. At least he actually tried to get work done unlike when she would try and study with Jean or Jubilee.

This afternoon however, she was quite on edge. Professor Xavier wanted her to work on practicing controlling her powers. Jean volunteered to be her partner for it. The two of them had a familiar dynamic already and the redhead knew Mia wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. They were downstairs in the basement of the mansion in one of the training rooms.

“Charles said you need to just talk and think about not persuading me,” Jean said scratching her head.

“How?” Mia signed over confused.

Jean shrugged, “Just start talking,”

The girl began to pace back and forth wringing her hands. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to not control her? A lot of it was mind work but Mia didn’t think her mind was strong enough for this type of thing. Jean stood there waiting allowing the girl to take her time. She was grateful for the redhead’s patience. It took another minute to settle her stomach. Mia turned to Jean, still pulling at her fingers, and opened her mouth.

“Hi,” she just about whispered.

“Mia you’re going to need to speak up,” Jean encouraged.

“Hi,” she repeated, voice cracking.

Even then there was something strange about her talking. She always yearned to be able to speak and the chances she ever got to it felt weird. Perhaps that was because she was discouraged to do so for most of her life. There was a flash in Jean’s eyes, her posture was more aimed towards Mia. A simple fully vocal ‘hello’ was already drawing her in.

“What did you do today?” Jean asked.

Mia wrapped her arms around herself, “I... I studied with Warren, played a boardgame with Peter, spoke to the Professor,” she spoke slowly.

Jean was starting to look a little strained. Her face was stuck in the same semi-neutral expression, her hands were shoved into her coat pockets. Mia could see the way the fabric on Jean’s pockets twisted, she was pulling a little too hard.

“Do you need anything?” Jean asked.

Mia swallowed the nervous lump in her throat, “Can you get me a glass of water,”

There was some struggle. Jean had to squeeze her eyes closed, arms coming out of her pockets to then sit crossed at her chest. The other girl closed her mouth, eyes down casted to the floor. She closed her eyes as well, trying so hard to break this invisible connection she had made. It was like a pull; she could feel Jean resisting. The doors to the room opened and Mia jumped slapping her hands over her mouth. Professor Xavier rolled in on his wheelchair and gave her a smile.

“How is the exercise coming along?” he asked.

“Fine,” Jean uttered, her eyes still closed.

He looked to Jean, “Jean you are too focused on resisting her. Mia should be the one actively trying to keep you from following her not you,”

“Sorry,” Mia whispered.

After that the session ended. Mia had to leave the room and walk quite a far distance to break the connection. She also had to find something else to focus on to completely forget about what she asked Jean to do. Just as she reached her room another door opened. Warren looked into the hallway, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately before coming out. She wondered if he was hiding from someone. His eyes swept the corridor and finally landed on Mia who gave him a friendly wave. Mia waited, watching him come out of his room and walk over. He knew she had training today.

“How’d it go?” he asked quietly.

Mia frowned.   
“You’ll figure it out eventually, I know you will,” there was a hint of a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” she signed over.

“You’re welcome,” he replied immediately.

Mia’s mouth fell open. How did he know what she said? The closer they became the more difficult it was to communicate. With Jean it was easy, she could hear Mia’s words in her mind as she signed. Jubilee knew a little ASL as well and even Peter knew the very basics which was quite surprising. Kurt was rather enthusiastic about everything so even if he didn’t understand what she was saying he acted like he did. Scott made a game of charades out of it that sometimes would work. But Warren, he didn’t know any.

“How did you know what I said?” she signed over quickly.

“You’re going to need to go slower, I can’t read it that fast,”

“How did you know what I said?” she asked again, signing much slower this time.

It was one long minute as he stood there putting the words together in his brain. Mia didn’t mind the wait, she wanted answers. The last person she expected to learn ASL would be Warren. Some colour suddenly dusted his cheeks a lightly shaded red.

“The guessing and note passing were getting a little fucking annoying,” he answered.

A pause, his eyes flitted away and then back to her.

Mia didn’t know how to feel. A part of her was bubbling with joy over the fact that he took the time to learn. Another part of her was confused as to why. No one has really gone the extra mile like this before. Sure, Jubilee knew a little bit but she didn’t start actively learning ASL for Mia’s sake. It was nice knowing that someone was doing something just for her. She wondered who was teaching him, she didn’t remember there being any books on American sign language in the library. He also couldn’t exactly leave; his house arrest wouldn’t be lifted for another month.

“Who is teaching you?” she signed slowly.

He stared at her, a touch of confusion in his gaze.   
“Teacher?” she signed, simplifying her previous question.

“Jubilee...” he seemed embarrassed, wings shuffling behind his back.

Jubilee was great and so very enthusiastic. But she wondered if Jubilee was the right person to be learning sign language fun. Half the time when they were talking Jubilee only got a quarter of what Mia was saying. She tried to make it look like she understood but Mia had herself a built-in bullshit detector to know when someone was lying. Mia suddenly perked up, excitement in her eyes.

“I can teach you,” she signed over, “if you want,” she quickly tacked on at the end.

The angel stared at her with that processing look on his face. She waited for a minute for him to decipher what he understood from that in his head.

“You teach me?” he asked.

Mia nodded eagerly.

“Fine, but only because Jubilee talks too much and it gives me a headache,”

After that Mia excused herself to her room. Warren nodded and continued on to whatever he was originally going to do when he first left his room. There was something so exciting about being a teacher. She tutored, yes, but there was just something about this new engagement that made her unable to stop smiling. Mia was smiling so much that it was starting to hurt. She caught up on some homework and by the time she was finished it was dinner. The usual crew was at the table, Warren shuffled into the cafeteria ten minutes after they had begun eating. He seemed more down than usual, his wings were folded more tightly to his back and he kept his gaze fixed onto his food. She shook her head; he was probably just tired and she was looking too much into it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was like he was a child experiencing light for the first time in ages, only for it to be snuffed out in an instant.

Her friends were spending a lot of their time down below in the Danger Room training. After all, they were the new X-men they had to be properly prepared for anything and everything. That also meant learning how to use their abilities in an offensive and defensive way. This was one of those lonely times. She laid outside alone on the giant lawn. There were dozens of kids running, bouncing, and flying around. It felt like she was in a dream. The sun was beating against her skin, she could see the light behind her closed eyes.

That light disappeared, instant darkness and a chill ran over her warm body. She cracked one eye open, dark patches dotted her vision. There was a person blocking the sun from her, standing directly in front of it. When her eyes finally focused, and she realized who it was she jumped up to her feet.

“Why are you out here?” she signed quickly, looking around for any of the teachers.

“Relax, house arrest has been extended, it’s like being in prison and getting access to the yard,” he said with a bitter laugh.

Mia’s head was tilted ever so slightly to the side as she stared up at him. In the warm light she realized how much better he looked than when she first saw him. For one, the bruises were gone and the cuts had now scarred over. His hair was growing out at the sides starting to cover up some of the metallic tattooing.

“Is there something on my face?” he asked.

Her face suddenly flushed red, she felt warmer than the surface of the sun. Mia shook her head and flashed a nervous smile. Had she really been staring that long? Warren took her rapidly shaking head as a good enough answer which was a relief. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes, sun kissing his skin. A sigh escaped his lips when he felt the warm light. Mia remembered that he hadn’t been out in the sun yet since getting here. Yes, they snuck out a while ago but it was pitch black when they left. He rolled his shoulders, silver wings stretching out the tiniest bit.

It happened all at once. He pushed off the ground and suddenly he was in the air. Mia stumbled back and stared up at him as he soared across the blue sky. Many others on the lawn as well did the same, staring up at the angel in the sky. There were no words to come to mind as she followed his figure. She’s never seen anything like it before in her entire life. He was only in the sky for a few minutes but for Mia it felt like seconds. People jumped out of the way when he landed, wings fully out on display. Her lips were parted, unable to even process what had just happened.

The wings were large and, in the sunlight, they looked even sharper, yet there was an elegance to it as they swayed behind him when he walked. They were usually tucked in trying to stay as flat to his back as possible, he didn’t want to hurt anyone. He walked up to her, hands falling to his hips, hair windswept.

“Sorry, I’ve been aching to do that,” he apologized, “anyways, I do believe you’re supposed to be teaching me right now,”

Mia’s face fell, she almost forgot about that. It was a surprise to see that Warren was actually so serious about it. She reached down and grabbed her bag that she was previously lying next to and swung the strap over her shoulder. The weather was so nice and the sun was so warm so they opted to stay outside, much to Warren’s relief. He probably would die if he had to go back into the mansion so soon. They sat on the edge of the property at the back of the large mansion underneath one of the trees. Sun was filtering through the leaves leaving warm bright shapes on them and the grass.

She started with simple introductory things. Like teaching him how to hold a basic conversation or ask simple questions. It was hard not to laugh whenever he started to pout when he didn’t understand. The notebook next to her was scribbled with a lot of random words or sentences. If anyone looked through it, they would think the person writing in it was crazy. Really it was what Warren dubbed the ‘word of Mia’.

“Okay so if I do this,” he made several hand gestures, movements slow and a little messy.

“I am good and, how are you?” she responded signing back.

“I’m fine,” he answered, Mia giggled and shook her head.

It took a little while to get him to remember to sign his answer instead of blurt it out vocally. Understanding it was great but she wanted him to also be able to reply back. He shifted on the ground and caught the light from the sun on one of his wings. It shone like a diamond. A soft smile graced her face as she looked back to Warren to see him whispering out the words to himself as he did the signs with his hands. He looked up from his hands to Mia who looked at him with such endearment.

“They’re very pretty,” she signed, motioning to the silver wings.

Warren understood what she had said because his entire demeanor changed. The sharp wings folded in tighter, his shoulders tensing. It went quiet. The leaves were rustling in the gentle breeze, kids laughing in the distance. His gaze was now fixed to the ground, his right-hand pulling strands of grass out one by one. The silence went on for a long time. Mia didn’t know how to continue after this. What was she supposed to say? He looked upset in that kind of kicked puppy sort of way.

Kurt had said Warren used to have white wings. She still had trouble imagining it to this day. Apocalypse gave him these ones, she assumed so considering the gifts the so called ‘god’ gave his horsemen. Ororo probably knew more about how he got the deadly looking pair on his back. She reached out and laid her hand on his knee, his eyes flitted up from the ground to meet hers immediately. There was a touch of red to his face, his eyes looking down to her hand and then back to meet her gaze. She gave him a comforting smile and then removed her hand. She picked up her pencil and scrawled a note in the messy notebook.

The angel leaned over and looked down at it. Mia finished their ASL lesson for the day. He was about to say something, his mouth opened and then quickly shut. She stood from the ground and offered stretched her hand out to him. Warren stared at it for what felt like forever and then took it. It was a little difficult pulling him up, in fact she ended up laughing as she pulled with all her might. She let go and he fell back to the ground.

“Be serious,” she signed and then extended her hand once again.

He took it again and actually stood properly this time. Their hands stayed held for a moment. It felt like he didn’t want to let go. There was a difference, just like when she was cleaning the blood from him all those weeks ago. His hand was rough, scars still over his knuckles. Mia pulled him along with her, he dropped her hand after the second step. For the rest of the day if he was ever around Mia, he stood close. Sometimes he would lean over her or accidentally bump into her if they were walking. Not that she minded.

They were in the library together now. It was getting late and the sun had already set behind the tree line. A few others their age or a little younger were around either hanging out or studying. Curfew was soon but she wanted to stay awake just a little longer. Originally it was just her here but Warren managed to seek her out. She was helping him with his history homework while also doing her own mathematics homework. Every once in a while, she would catch the other students watching them, most of them were giving Warren dirty looks. He was still not very well liked.

Warren sighed and ran a hand through the mess of curls on the top of his head. She could see that he was getting frustrated. Whether he was frustrated over the homework or are the stares was up to debate.

“I’m going to get a drink, want anything?” he asked standing from the table.

“No thank you,” she signed back with a smile.

Once he was out of the library a group of students rushed over to her. They looked at her with genuine concern. A few of them crowded around her while one of them sat on the edge of the table looking towards the libraries entrance. Mia was confused, she didn’t know why they were all here.

“Is he making you hangout with him?” one girl asked.

“Do you need help?” a boy then asked.

It was all so overwhelming. Mia couldn’t even stand up from her chair from the way they were all crowding around her. She didn’t even know what to say, or what to think. More and more questions kept being thrown her way. One of the girls grabbed her arm and gave her a pitiful smile.

“You should come with us, you’ll be safer away from him,” she said trying to pull her up from the chair.

Mia shook her head and ripped her arm back from the girl. All of this was too much. She didn’t believe Warren would hurt her. The library suddenly felt a lot smaller. She stood up from her chair and noticed Warren re-entering the library. The one kid who was supposed to be keeping watch was distracted by the rest of the kids. Warren looked worried and began walking towards the table.

“He’s going to hurt you! Haven’t you heard that he was working with Apocalypse? And have you seen those wings? Aren’t you worried he’s going to cut you open?” the same girl asked, practically yelled.

It was like a wall had suddenly gone up. Warren stopped in his tracks when he heard what the girl said. His wings tensed up and pulled further into himself. The lookout finally turned around to see Warren standing in the middle of the library. The group of kids all looked stricken with fear when they laid eyes on him.

“Please don’t hurt us,” the girl said with a shaky voice.

When he didn’t move the kids took that as their cue to run out of there. They vacated the library almost as quick as Peter could run. Warren walked over to the table, completely ignoring Mia and gathering his books. She touched his shoulder and upon doing that his left wing shot out nearly slicing her in half. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her breath caught in the back of her throat. Warren turned around to see the scared look on her face. For the second they made eye contact all she could see was the fear swelling in his eyes.

She reached out to him only for the blond to move away from her. This was a Warren she had never seen before. There was a glossiness to his eyes, he blinked and looked away from her.

“Warren,” she signed his name.

He turned and left, heading out of the library. Mia ran over to the table and shoved her things haphazardly into her backpack. When she ran out of the library there was no one. Just like that it was like he never existed in the first place. It hurt.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cigarettes and alcohol are the only way he knows how to dull the pain.

It was all loud music and the occasional crashing noise. This went on all night long until Mia couldn’t take it anymore. No one else had the guts to tell him to knock it off but she did. At least, she thought she did. As soon as she came face to face with his door her hand fell to her side and all thought of what she was going to say, or rather sign, vanished from her mind. The music was even louder now that she was stood right outside. It was different from what she would listen to, heavier and more aggressive then the soft calming tunes that came to mind. Something shattered inside, she jumped back a tad with her hand flying to press against her chest.

Beneath her fingers her heart was thumping like a drum. Mia felt the sadness and anger that he felt once before but never to this level. Then again, she noticed that his tendencies were rather destructive. She took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door. There was no answer, she chastised herself for being so stupid. The music within was so loud she was sure Warren couldn’t even hear himself think. Her hand reached for the doorknob and much to her surprise the door opened when she twisted it. Mia tucked away that piece of information to remind Warren later to not leave his door unlocked.

Her hands flew up to her ears to block out the harsh music. The door closed when she kicked it with her foot, she felt the slight reverberation in the floor when it slammed. Of course, not even that could be heard over this racket. Her eyes scanned the dimly lit room. It was rather messy and some of the furniture and school books had been tossed carelessly to the floor. Mia took a cautious step forward out of the nook of the doorway and peered further into the room. She had never been in Warren’s room; he’s never been in hers either but it was still weird. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, she shouldn’t be in here.

The last thing she would want was to have someone in her room uninvited. Warren was probably going to feel the same if he saw her. There was another loud shattering noise and she jumped back towards the doorway. Now that she had been here for longer than a few seconds she finally smelled the alcohol and smoke wafting through the air. Mia swallowed the fearful lump in her throat and reluctantly took another few steps forward. Her eyes landed on the stereo that was practically shaking by how loud the music was blasting out of it.

Once she got a proper look at it, she quickly walked over and removed her right hand from her ear. She winced at the loud noise as her finger pressed the stop button. In an instant the room fell into a relieving silence. It was like peeling a bandage off the way she unstuck her left hand from her ear by how hard she had it pressed against her head. Something came flying past her head and shattered against the wall next to her. Within an instant she covered her head with her arms, eyes squeezing shut. There was a spray of liquid that clung to her skin and it absolutely reeked of liquor.

“Fuck off!”

She spun around in her spot and removed her arms from her head. Now she could see the rest of his room, or what little there was of it. It looked like a tornado had run through the other half of the room. Her eyes swept over it and in the corner on the floor was Warren. As soon as they made eye contact his face sharpened, he looked pissed.

“Piss off Mia!” he hissed; words slurred partially together.

She frowned, “Are you okay?” she signed.

He purposely looked away from her, head lolling to the side to stare idly at the wall. The frown on her face only deepened as she dropped her hands to her sides. As she made her way across the room to him, she made sure to avoid the broken bottles. The last thing she needed was a shard of glass stabbing her in the foot. Now she stood in front of him, her shadow practically swallowing him up. He moved his head and looked up at her, insults on the tip of his tongue.

“Where did you get the alcohol?” she signed.

There was no response to her question. His sign language was still a little rusty and she couldn’t blame him for not understanding a word considering his current inebriated state. Instead she reached down and swiped the half empty bottle from his hand and pointed to it.

He scoffed, “Prof’s got a good taste,”

She shook her head at him again and turned around, her eyes locking on the washroom door. The least she could do was pour the rest down the sink. It was almost like he knew what she was going to do because before she could take a step his hand had grabbed her wrist.

“Give it back,” he practically growled.

Mia tugged her hand from him and began her journey across the room again. She barely made it halfway across when she was shoved forwards. It was undoubtedly Warren who had done the aggressive shoving. She stumbled and almost hit her head against the corner of a desk if she didn’t reach out for it to steady herself. Immediately she turned around to face him. He stood tall with his sharp wings flared outwards, a menacing look on his face.

“Give it back,” he repeated, his voice so deep it was almost scary.

Another fearful lump formed at the back of her throat. The last time she had seen him this angry was at the hospital when they first met. She shook her head defiantly and slowly inched her body towards the washroom door that was half cracked open. As soon as she took a full step, he ran at her. It felt like her nerves had been shocked, all the hair standing on edge as she grabbed the washroom door handle. Of course, she couldn’t even open it because his hand had closed over hers on the handle. His grip was strong and she would’ve been impressed if it didn’t feel like her bones were going to snap.

“Warren,” she whispered, her voice was so quiet.

“Don’t touch my shit,” he hissed, his hand didn’t move.

“You’re hurting me,” her voice cracked, pain slipping out.

It was in an instant that he removed his hand. He moved away so fast, pulled his hand back as if he was just burned. Once the strong pressure was removed her hand hissed as she flexed her fingers. She glanced back to see the angel trip over one of the chairs and fall backwards to the ground. Mia heard him groan and used that distraction to slip into the washroom and pour out what was left of the alcohol. The bottle was placed on the corner of the sink; the label let her know that it was a high branded vodka.

Warren was sitting up now when she re-entered the room. She could practically feel the anger radiating off of him as she approached. The angel was quick to slap her hand away when she reached out to him. He mumbled something in a language she didn’t understand. When she reached out a second time, he cursed at her and for a third he almost screamed for her to stay away. Mia took a patient breath and instead sat down next to him on the messy floor. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes was almost too much to bear.

The orange light from the lamp hanging upside down off his bedside table casted a warm glow in the dim room. In this light his face was practically scarlet and she could only guess it was hot to the touch. They were quiet for the longest time. Her eyes scanned his body to see a few bruises but nothing too major. It was now that she realized that his shirt was missing but she assumed it was probably more comfortable to be without one with the wings. What here eyes caught onto was the start of a long-jagged scar that she assumed ran diagonally down his torso. After she noticed that her eyes began to spot many more scars that marred his smooth skin.

It pained her, something deep in her chest aching just thinking about the ways he could have gotten such scars. She made herself comfier, crossing her legs and turning to face him. Warren seemed to turn his head further away from her, his body though not yet moving. After another few minutes of frustrating silence, she grabbed his face and turned it to look at her. There was a touch of red to his eyes as well as a gloss from unshed tears. Just by looking in his eyes she could see all the pain and anger and fear boiling inside of him. He pulled his face out of her loose hold and glared at her.

“Leave me the hell alone,” he grumbled.

“No, you are hurt,” she signed quickly.

He laughed bitterly, “Fuck you, I don’t need your help,”

She frowned, “Yes, you do,”

He rolled his eyes after seeing what she had signed. Warren went to stand and almost fell back over if she didn’t help steady him. The only semi-not-ruined thing was his bed surprisingly. Despite the blankets and sheets being a mess and half on the floor she helped him to it and sat him down on the edge. His shoulders sagged and his wings drooped resting against the mattress. Wordlessly she turned around and stared at the mess that was his room. She shook her head and picked up the chair he had previously tripped over. Once she placed it upright across from him, she took a seat.

“I am worried,” she signed to him, a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth.

“Didn’t ask you to be,”

“Today, those kids. What they said is wrong,”

Immediately he shook his head after reading her hand gestures. What they said about him was wrong. Mia remembered how hurt he looked when he heard their words. The kids were just worried but they were judging him for something in the past.

“Shut up,” he hissed.

“You are not a monster,” she signed back, a soft look in her eyes.

It was like seeing her sign that physically burned him. He drew in a sharp breath and quickly closed his eyes turning his head to the side. She noticed the way his fingers dug into the mattress like he was holding onto it for dear life. There was that ache in her chest again. He really believed all the things everyone said about him were true. Mia stood from her chair and walked over to his bed, cautiously taking a seat next to him. She made sure to leave a comfortable space between them, the last thing she wanted was to smother him. There was silence again.

He tensed up, wings drawing close to his back, when she gently touched his arm. His skin was warm against the cold of her palm. It sent goosebumps along her skin and down her spine. Every time his wings moved there was that sliding noise, like knives being sharpened. In the beginning it was a little unnerving but she’s been around him long enough to have gotten used to it. She traced circles on his arm, eyes trained to her fingers slow circular motion.

“It was a bad day,” she whispered, “today,” she clarified.

Warren was still quiet but she could tell he was listening with the way his fingers relaxed against the bed. He didn’t have that same death grip anymore. Talking took a lot of mental power. She had to consider her words carefully considering she couldn’t exactly control her mutant abilities as of yet. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally say something and Warren immediately fall to her control. Sometimes the thought of having such power was frightening.

“Just a bad day, we can have bad days,” she continued in her hushed voice.

In the back of her mind she knew he probably wouldn’t remember any of this by morning. Mia’s never been exceptionally drunk before but she’s been around people who have and knew the routine. She yawned suddenly realizing how tired she was. Mia removed her hand from his arm and stood, walking around to the other side of him. She sat down again and frowned seeing how sad he was. Warren was really the poster child for the kicked puppy look.

“You should get some sleep,” she signed.

He went to move away from her when she grabbed his hand. It was purely reactional; she simply didn’t want him ignoring her any longer. Warren was stubborn, one of the most stubborn people she knew. The blond went still, lips parted slightly as he simply stared at Mia.

“Please,” she signed, free hand moving in a circular motion above the center of her chest.

Warren responded wordlessly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. That act alone made a soft smile grace her lips. Mia went to stand herself, feeling better knowing that she was able to leave and he would be fine. Her hand was squeezed again, gently. He was going to say something, words on the tip of his tongue ready to fall from his lips. She searched his eyes for something, some wordless explanation.

But he didn’t say anything.

Mia’s hand was released and he allowed her to stand. The room was still a mess but that could be fixed tomorrow. They stared at each other for the longest time, his gaze was intense. Suddenly a reminder came to her memory.

“Your door,” she paused to simplify, “it was open,”

“No one’s gonna come in,” he mumbled.

“I did,” she signed back.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home, something so very sensitive to the angel.

There wasn’t anything more that happened that night. Mia remembered distinctly leaving after wishing him a good rest of his night and headed back to her own room to sleep. Breakfast was very quiet. A lot of people were tired to be awake so early in the morning, nothing ever eventful happened. Most were still in the pajamas, including Peter whose hair was still sticking in every direction as he sat down at the table. He gave them a dazed smile and began eating his cereal. The morning was always ethereal. Mia felt like she was in an entirely different building.

Everyone was so quiet and calm, murmuring to each other. Jubilee was the only one already dressed and ready for the day to come. Her pigtails bobbed up and down as Mia followed her and Jean down the corridor after breakfast. The girl may or may not have asked her dear friends for a favour. She was carrying a plate of food, stacked with healthy things she thought Warren would like. His room was undoubtedly still a train wreck so she was going to get him out while Jean and Jubilee snuck in to try and make sense of it.

“So we’re basically maids right?” Jean said flatly in the girl’s heads.

“Mia said he’s having a bad time and I think it would be nice to do this for him!” Jubilee quickly covered her mouth realizing how loud she was.

The other two girls laughed and shook their heads. Jubilee was always so upbeat and was the one to see the bright side of well, everything. Jean concealed herself and Jubilee as Mia knocked on the angel’s door. Her knocking became more persistent and annoying, non-stop until he opened it. The door opened after a few minutes of knocking. Warren still looked like a mess, hair mused, skin paler than a ghost, and dark circles swallowing his eyes. His shoulders fell and he crossed his arms, annoyed expression dropping.

Mia smiled and held the plate out towards him, motioning with her head down the corridor. He grumbled something incoherent but disappeared back into his room. The teens peeked inside the dark room to see the mess that was still there. Jean and Jubilee grimaced underneath their invisible barrier.

“I can’t believe we’re cleaning up your boyfriends mess,” Jean’s voice echoed in their heads without thinking.

Her face went hot as she looked to the nothingness on her left. A retort was hot on her mind when Warren reappeared. She quickly looked back to him and flashed a nervous smile, face still scarlet.

“Are you sick?” he asked while pressing the palm of his hand to her forehead.

“No,” she said softly.

Jean and Jubilee were surprised to hear Mia speak. The girl had completely forgot her friends were there. Warren was a little reluctant to follow, keeping his head low and eyes trained to the ground. Jean and Jubilee slipped into his room once they saw the two turn the corner at the end of the hallway. The two of them ended up outside on the stairs of the school. Most kids were still within the mansion sleeping or finishing up breakfast. The grass was wet and sparkled underneath the morning sunlight.

It was colder than Mia thought it was going to be. She handed the plate over to Warren who sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around herself. Summer was slipping away faster than she realized. Warren was quiet like she expected him to be. A cool breeze blew their way and Mia shivered. The wind was suddenly blocked and she glanced to her side to see the edges of sharp silver blades putting up a shield between her and the cold air. Warren didn’t say anything about it, continuing to eat his yogurt.

“Not even a single pancake huh?” he finally said.

“You need good to fix the bad,” she signed over.

His eyes immediately flicked to the ground. There was a touch of red to his cheeks as he glared down at the stone stairs. Mia reached out and touched his arm, immediately drawing his attention back to her.

She removed her hand and signed, “It is okay,”

Another breeze blew and she instinctively moved closer to him. They were side by side bow, shoulders pressed together. His wing curled in more, almost resting against her other shoulder. Now that she was closer, she could still smell the alcohol and cigarettes on him. It was a smell she didn’t want to have to get used to. She nudged him in the side to get his attention again.

“Shower,” she signed.

“Are you saying I smell?”

“You’re lucky I’m not one of the teachers,” she whispered back.

That was enough to knock him in the right mindset. Mia was right, he was indeed lucky she wasn’t a teacher. If the Professor smelled the alcohol or the cigarettes on him there was no doubt there would be repercussions. Warren was peeling an orange. Mia only realized this from the sudden citrusy smell that filled the air. Her attention had been focused solely on the rising sun and glittering lawn. A touch of cold metal against her shoulder almost made her jump. She glanced back, making sure not to move her head, to see the sharp wing curled around her. Mia kept still and looked back forwards at the lawn. She felt Warren relax, their sides still pressed together.

Warren’s hand nudged her arm and she looked down to see a slice of his orange offered. She flashed him a kind smile and took it, taking a bite and relishing in the taste of citrus. It had been a long time since she last ate an orange. She forgot what it tasted like. The fruit reminded her of early mornings, first light, and a long bus ride. Warren nudged her again, she snapped out of her daydream and turned her head.

“Clearly your heads in the bloody clouds,” he said with a short laugh.

“Sorry, dreaming,” she signed.

“About what?”

Mia shrugged. It was just stupid things that she remembered about her life before the coming to the school. The early mornings when she slept in long enough that she missed her proper breakfast. Her mother always had an orange waiting for her on the kitchen table when she whizzed by and ran out the door to the school bus. They lived far enough from the school that she needed to take one, she was the first one to be picked up on the route. Memories like that brought a soft smile to her face and a cloudy look to her eyes.

“Home,” she finally signed.

That word made him stiffen. Home seemed to be a touchy subject for him. Mia realized that he never really talked about himself. She didn’t want to push him to divulge his entire life story but it did leave her curious. The only things she knew about Warren were the tid bits of information people whispered about, or what she had seen on the papers she managed to get a peek at. She remembered Kurt saying something about cage fighting. The extent of her knowledge on that was very limited.

“How the fuck do you people stay so happy all the time?” he asked; it seemed very much like a rhetorical question.

Mia looked to the ground, “We’re not, some of us are just better at forcing it,” she said quietly.

Silence ensued again. She was sucked back into her daydreaming state. Eyes trained on the ground as war waged within her mind. Some much more unpleasant memories came to the forefront of her brain. Screaming, blood, and words she wished she could take back. One of the flat sides of the blades smoothed over her arm. Mia blinked a few times not realizing the tears that were brimming her eyes. She sniffed and quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand. Warren frowned but said nothing, instead using his wing to push her closer into his side. The girl didn’t mind, she rested her head against his shoulder and let out a long sigh.

“You know when they say words don’t hurt?” she whispered; eyes focused on the tree line.

“Yeah,”

“They lied,”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The longer Warren's here the more people are getting comfortable with his presence. It's not always a good thing.

It didn’t take long for them to fall back into their daily repertoire. They went to class together as much as possible, studied together, and well did just about everything. Her friends thought it was strange how close the two of them were. Jean mentioned something about it in passing, asking if there was something more going on but Mia denied it. The students were starting to get more comfortable with him being around. It was both good and bad. Good because the younger kids weren’t paralyzed with fear when he walked past. Bad because he was now starting to become a target for some of the upper years that enjoyed making people’s lives miserable.

Just because they were at a school for mutants didn’t mean the usual stone casting didn’t happen. The group of them were outside on the vast field playing a game of catch. All of them were bored and with homework being the last resort to cure boredom they decided on this childish game. Warren first thought it was stupid and refused to play, standing off to the side sulking. It was only when Mia threw it at him during one of the rounds that he then started playing along as well.

September had begun a few days ago. Scott was talking about how cold it was going to get, he especially hated the cold. This conversation was brought up at dinner the night before. Warren scoffed at Scott and said something along the lines of winter in Berlin. The wind blew and Mia snapped back to reality. The air was getting colder quicker and she found herself bundled up in one of her long sleeves. It still wasn’t doing her any justice; her hands were starting to freeze.

Amidst the laughter and playful taunting between Scott and Warren she slipped off to the side. The game of ball had now become a game of who can trash talk the other person the most. It was all fun and games. She rubbed her arms up and down, a warm smile on her face despite the cold temperature her body was facing. Something hit the back of her leg, she looked back and down to see a soccer ball. There were a few boys off a little bit away that had been playing soccer earlier. When she picked up the ball, she recognized one of them running over. He was a brunet from one of her classes, he caused a bit of trouble sometimes.

He was sweaty and panting when he ran up to her. The guy placed his hands on his hips and nodded towards the soccer ball in her hands. Quickly she held it out to him and gave him a small smile.

“What, not going to say anything?” he asked.

Mia frowned and prompted for him to take the ball by shaking it slightly. His mutant abilities gave him patches of scales that would show up on random parts of his body. She saw a cluster of them on his neck. Apparently, he could also spit venom, he reminded her of a snake. It was unfortunate that his words were just as venomous. He’d teased her in the past but Mia learned to ignore it. There was a dark smile that appeared on his face as he motioned with his head to her friends in the background.

“You’re the girl that’s been playing house with the Archangel,” his eyes flickered back to her.

Mia was silent.

He stepped closer, “Oh I see, you got a taste for the villains huh? Or did you just tell him to like you? That’s why you don’t talk right?”

She dropped the ball at the boy’s feet and went to turn around. It was when he grabbed her arm and harshly tugged her back to face him that frightened her. Something went flying past them and embedded itself in the ground by the guys feet. He jumped back; Mia’s eyes flew down to see a familiar silver blade sticking out of the grass.

“Let her go,” Warren warned.

The guy laughed, “We were just having a friendly conversation,”

Warren was at her side, already holding her other arm in his hand. The guy wouldn’t let up, he thought this was funny. She looked between the two boys and felt a sense of dread. This guy was looking for a fight and she knew that if he wasn’t careful Warren would give him one. She heard the blades behind her shift and glanced back to see the large wings flared out. Scott ran over and raised an eyebrow at the three of them.

“Everything good?” he asked.

“Summers,” the boy greeted as he let go of Mia’s arm, “just getting my soccer ball,”

Scott nodded and watched as the brunet picked up the dirt smudged soccer ball. There was a gentle pull at Mia’s arm to guide her back to the group. They turned around; she could feel the other boys’ eyes on her.

“Fucking bitch,” the boy hissed.

That comment alone was what started the chaos. Warren let go of her arm and turned around to punch the brunet square in the nose. The guy yelled and stumbled back and Mia noticed the blood dripping from his nose when she turned around. He cursed and jumped at Warren and after that it was a blur. She stood there stunned for a minute watching them fight on the ground. It was like she was watching a movie; she couldn’t believe this was happening. Jubilee and Jean were with her in seconds, both of them guiding her backwards away while Scott and Kurt tried to break up the fight to no avail.

It was when she saw Warren pinned to the ground getting punched repeatedly that she snapped out of her dazed state. Something in her snapped as she broke away from Jean and Jubilee. The two girls were calling after her but her name was nothing more than a background noise. All of the cold she was feeling before melted off of her as angry heatwaves rolled over her body.

“Get off of him,” her voice was sharp.

The brunet immediately clambered off of Warren and stood up. His eyes were focused intensely and solely on Mia. She looked down at Warren whose face was bloody, he looked like he was going to pass out. The fire in her chest only became stronger as she walked up to the brunet.

“Kneel,” she ordered.

He did as he was told. Mia grabbed him by his jaw and forced his head up to look at her. There was murderous intent in her eyes and anger boiling beneath her ribcage.

“Apologize,”

“I’m sorry,”

“Like you mean it,”

“I’m sorry,”

There was a commanding tone to her voice. Her friends didn’t know what to do. They had never seen her like this before. Usually she was so closed off and quiet. Kurt and Scott had already pulled Warren to his feet. The angel looked dazed but his eyes still found their way to Mia. She ordered the brunet to stand which he did instantly.

“Hold your breath,” she instructed.

“Mia you can’t –” Jubilee was quickly cut off.

“- shut up!” she hissed.

Her friends mouth sealed, no more words leaving. Mia looked back to the boy stood in front of her. His face was beginning to turn beet red. There was a touch of a smile on her lips when the boy’s eyes started to strain.

“Mia!” Scott yelled.

She ignored him and the rest of her friends. Jean was grabbing her and saying something that Mia blocked out. The brunet wouldn’t do anything unless she told him to do it so no matter what her friends did, he wouldn’t breathe.

“Enough!” Charles yelled.

It happened all so suddenly. One moment she was standing in the field with the intent to make the brunet in front of her pass out and the next she was waking up in the little infirmary. She had a splitting headache upon trying to lift her head from the all too fluffy pillow. The lights were a burning white, nearly blinded her when she opened her eyes. There were hushed voices, she closed her eyes again and listened. They were easily recognizable, Jean, Scott, and Warren. The three of them didn’t sound too far from her, Warren sounded the closest of the three. They were in the middle of a conversation.

“...your fault, right?” Scott said, he sounded angry.

“Fuck you, I was protecting her,” Warren spat.

“Warren you didn’t need to start a fight with him. She could have killed him if Charles didn’t knock her out,” Jean interjected.

There was a pause and then Warren spoke up, “And would that be so bad?”

“Dude he’s a dick but he doesn’t deserve to die!” Scott yelled.

Mia took this time to fully open her eyes now and move her head around. She had to let them know that she was awake, to stop this nonsense. Jean was sat on a stool nearby with Scott to her right, she was holding his arm tightly. When she turned her head to the left, she saw Warren sitting on the bed next to hers holding an ice pack to his nose. Her head was still pounding, even more so when she scooted into an upright position on the bed.

“Is he okay?” she signed to Jean.

“Yes, but he’s royally pissed so I suggest staying away from him for a while,” Jean responded while releasing Scott’s arm.

“I’m sorry,” she signed again, a frown on her face.

“Don’t apologize, he bloody deserved what he got,” Warren spat.

There was a heavy weight in the air. She could feel it surrounding her, waiting to suffocate her entirely. Scott only let out an annoyed sigh and quickly left the room, door slamming closed behind him. Jean walked over to the side of the bed and grabbed Mia’s hand giving it a comforting squeeze.

“I’ll go catch up with him, try and calm him down before he blows a hole through one of the walls,” she said with an uncomfortable laugh.

It happened before; Mia remembered it. Of course, it was by accident and hilarious but she definitely didn’t want it to happen again. Jean released her hand and turned, giving Warren a pointed look before leaving the room. As soon as the door closed behind her the room fell incredibly silent. She could feel Warren’s eyes on her, she kept her gaze trained to her hands. He hopped off of the bed, she heard the sharp sliding of his wings as he walked around the room. Mia briefly glanced up and saw him getting another ice pack from one of the small freezers mounted on the wall.

When he turned around, she caught a glimpse of his face. He was bruised, busted lip, bloody nose that looked like it was just starting to calm down. Their eyes met and he raised an eyebrow at her sad expression.

“What? Something on my face?” he asked jokingly.

“I am sorry,” she signed, head hanging in shame.

In her mind the fight started because of her. Sometimes Warren was a little too physical and she should have remembered that. She should have intervened before he got hurt anymore than he already was. Her eyes were drawn bag to her hands, she was fiddling with her fingers again in a vain attempt at some sort of distraction. The bed dipped and she looked up to see Warren sitting on the edge. She pulled her legs in to give him more room, turning her body to the side so they were sat side by side. The angel turned his head to look at her, he looked troubled. Something was on his mind.

“Everything okay?” she signed.

“I just – it’s -” he let out a frustrated sigh.

She reached out and touched his arm, head tilted ever so slightly to the side. His eyes flickered down to her hand touching his arm and then quickly back to her face. There was a touch of crimson to his face.

“Shit, I’m just trying to say thank you,” he muttered.

“Thank you?” Mia signed; confusion evident on her face.

“You stepped in when he was punching the shit out of me and well, no one’s done that before,” he said quietly.  
Mia frowned and maneuvered herself around to give him a side hug. It was weird, she had to be careful of the sharp wings. He went still, unsure of what to do. His free arm wrapped around her, cheek pressing against the top of her head. After the initial moment of awkwardness, they sort of relaxed. It wasn’t as unpleasant as she initially thought it would be, Warren was quite warm. She felt the familiar coolness of his wings, one of them carefully wrapped around her. Mia didn’t mind, she found it oddly comforting that something so deadly could be used so gently. At one point she closed her eyes and what felt like hours was really a few minutes, she didn’t want to let him go but eventually she had to.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mia's little stunt landed her in detention for two weeks. Of course Warren was there too, after all he did punch the guy.

Mia’s little stunt landed her two weeks of detention and an increased schedule of focus practice. The first three days of detention was unnerving. Hank was watching her like a hawk. Warren’s punishment was somewhat similar, detention and an extension of his ‘house arrest’. He had two more weeks tacked onto his inability to leave school grounds. The two of them weren’t allowed to sit next to each other, she was at the front and he was at the back. Today’s day of detention was quite painful. It was quiet and the humming of the overhead lights were driving her insane.

The classroom was empty and Hank was sitting at the desk reading a book. He looked just as annoyed to be here as Warren and Mia were. Detention was an hour everyday from two to four. It was absolutely torture. Mia took to staring dreamily out the window at everyone outside. There were some smaller kids chasing each other around, some boys in the back playing soccer, a few others scattered around on the grass watching the clouds or doing homework. She would kill to go outside, or stretch her legs, or do something that didn’t involve sitting in this boring room.

Her eyes flickered over to the clock on the wall. They still had half an hour left of detention. Professor Xavier suggested that this would be a good time to catch up on homework. Mia was very efficient when it came to that so she hardly ever procrastinated on it. Which once again, left her with nothing to do but wait. She thought about asking Hank to use the washroom. It took her ten minutes of inner arguing to finally raise her hand. Hank looked up from his book after a minute or two and spotted her raised hand.

“Yes?” he asked with a yawn.

“Can I use the washroom?” she signed.

Hank’s ASL wasn’t fantastic but he knew enough to understand what she wanted. It was rather a reluctant allowance but soon she was out of the room. Mia walked slowly, taking as much time as possible. The washroom was only down the corridor from the empty classroom so there wasn’t a lot of time for lollygagging. She didn’t have to actually use the washroom; she was just looking for any excuse to leave. Even walking down the empty hallway was far more entertaining than the classroom.

She finally reached the door at the end of the hallway and sighed as she entered. The washroom smelled clean, overly clean. With all the kids in the mansion she was a little shocked at the cleanliness sometimes. It was even more shocking the few times she would go out into the world and see the public washrooms. The messes in there were horrifying. Mia paced the length of the washroom for a minute or two before stopping in front of one of the mirrors. Her appearance wasn’t anything special, she didn’t dress to impress.

The door opened and she looked to see Jubilee creeping in, looking around suspiciously before laying eyes on Mia. She jumped and quickly entered, shutting the washroom door behind her.

“What are you up to?” Mia signed; eyebrow raised.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Jubilee said loudly, her voice reverberating off of the walls.

“Really?” Mia signed, even more confused.

Jubilee eagerly nodded, “Of course! How’s detention been hmm?”

“Terrible,”

The two chatted for five minutes about the stupidest of things. Just the simplicities of teenage gossip. Jubilee knew everything and was quite the chatterbox, Mia was just someone who was a good listener. A match made in friend heaven. Eventually she had to leave, Jubilee staying behind just in case Hank was waiting outside. That had already happened yesterday when she was lingering for awhile longer in the washroom than necessary. As soon as she stepped out Hank was standing there with his arms crossed shaking his head.

When she walked back into the empty classroom, she glanced at the clock again. There was still ten minutes left of detention and then she would be free. Warren was still sitting in the back, leg shaking as he scribbled boredly in his notebook. Hank looked up from his book and nodded to Mia as she took her seat once again. Her eyes were glued to the clock as she watched the seconds tick by. Their jailer let them go a minute early, Hank was already over this two-hour torture himself.

The next day of detention Hank had a job for them. Well, the Professor told Hank to give them something to do considering the two of them were doing nothing. There was a pile of textbooks awaiting them when they entered the empty classroom. Hank was dressed like he was about to leave, which he was. The two of them were to erase any graffiti or writing in every single textbook for the next two hours of detention. After that he left, shutting the door behind him, and the two got to work.

“He’s gone right? Like we could leave if -” he stopped speaking when Mia glared at him.

“Do your work,” she signed.

Warren rolled his eyes but grabbed one of the textbooks from the pile. The two worked quietly together for fifteen minutes. It was a whole fifteen minutes of quiet before Warren let out a loud sigh. She looked up from her textbook, eyes flickering over to the bored look on his face.

“This is worse than sitting and doing nothing,” he sighed again.

Mia shook her head, “Dramatic,”

“Hell yeah,”

They worked for a while longer in silence once again. Every time she looked across the table to him, she always found him studying the scribbles and notes instead of erasing them. There were many textbooks to get to yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him to focus. He just looked so curious with his eyes so wide and the small smile that would pull at the corner of his mouth whenever he read or saw something funny. Some students walked by in the hallway outside and he looked up, eyes immediately being drawn to the closed door.

“How is your face?” she signed.

The angel raised an eyebrow, taking into account what she had said. Mia was patient, she would always wait for him to piece the words together in his mind. It had only been a few days since he was pummeled on the floor by that wretched guy. From what she saw his lips was healing, the break scabbed over, and the bruises were already becoming lighter in colour.

“It’s fine, been worse,” he answered with a shrug.

His answer made her frown. Her mind recalled images of the scars she saw covering his body the night he was a drunken mess. There were hundreds of scenarios that ran through her mind of the things that happened that got him those scars. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone but one night she had a nightmare about him being hurt. It was like she was trapped in a box and no matter how hard she tried to speak, to yell, no words came out. Her eyes flickered down to his hands to see the scars still marking his knuckles. Warren was a fighter, that she knew. His fingers suddenly drew in so his hands were balled into fists, she quickly looked away.

“Kurt told you I was a fighter?” he asked.

Mia nodded.

His hands relaxed, “I was a part of a fighting ring in East Berlin, for mutants. They wanted a fucking show so we fought until only one of us was left standing,” he paused.

Mia understood the implication. Kurt had briefly spoken to her before about the fighting ring and his short-lived experience with it. Nightcrawler’s scars were from something else, not from the ring. The way Warren spoke made it sound like he was there for a long time. He looked into her eyes; there was that raw pain and sadness again.

“You are okay,” she signed.

“Well anyways, Kurt or whatever was thrown in one night and he didn’t want to fight. Was scared and I get that but I didn’t want to die,” his wings pulled in tighter, “threw me through a loop and I hit the wall, fucking fried them,”

Once again, his hands were balled up into tight fists, knuckles a stark white. Mia couldn’t imagine being electrocuted like that. The most she could compare to was getting static shocked from touching a door handle. She reached across the table and rested her hand on top of his. Warren’s eyes opened, when did they close? There was a heavy break in the atmosphere, he relaxed beneath her touch. That seemed to happen often. Whenever she would lie a hand on him or even lean against him Warren would almost melt. His hand opened and she held it, giving it a light squeeze.

They went back to work. This time though she was holding his hand across the table. It seemed to keep him focused on the task of hand. Whenever his eyes strayed from the textbooks, she would lightly squeeze his hand and give him a knowing look. It wasn’t weird, at least not for the two of them. At one point during the erasure of a crude word in her fifth textbook she began mindlessly smoothing her thumb across his knuckles. This was just an absentminded act that helped her concentrate. Clearly it didn’t bother the angel because he didn’t breathe a word of it.

Time seemed to fly by and soon they heard the door handle of the classroom door jiggle. She let go of his hand and turned in her chair just as the door opened. Hank walked in, sweat on his brow and a surprised look on his face. He probably thought they were going to be gone, or at least Warren gone, when he got back. But no, they were there. Mia stacked the finished textbooks in a pile, and the semi-finished two in another mini pile.

“Good, I guess you’ll just be doing this for the rest of detention until you’re finished them,” he said, taking one pile and placing it on a nearby table.

“And when we’re done?” Warren asked.

Hank shrugged, “The Professor will probably have something else for you two to do,”

“Whatever,” Warren said, grabbing his bag and heading out of the room.

The two of them studied for a little later on after dinner and if Mia held his hand when he became distracted no one said anything. No one dared to even look at them the wrong way, at least when Warren was around.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank comes back to relieve them from detention rather flustered. Thus leading to a giggly angel and some awkward questioning for Mia.

Two weeks were dragging by ever so slowly. Mia was debating on slamming her head against the textbooks, even that would be more entertaining than erasing pencil marks. She didn’t even find half of what was written inside funny! On the contrary, Warren took his time to read every single comment before erasing it. He thought they were absolutely hilarious; he had a very strange sense of humor. It was going on the last ten minutes of detention and Mia was just about finished another textbook. The two of them were lightly kicking one another underneath the table mindlessly.

Hank came back early looking quite frazzled. His hair was mused and there was a smile that he was fighting to hide. Mia even noticed that the tie he was wearing was a little crooked. She stood and gave the brunet a fond smile before stacking the textbooks and putting them away with Warren. For some reason the angel had a grin plastered to his face. Hank was waiting at the door, holding it open for the two of them. Warren stopped in front of her, looking Hank up and down and only smirking.

“Have fun?” he asked, smirk growing wider.

“Out, now,” Hank said with a face as red as roses.

Mia rolled her eyes and shoved the blond out the door. The two of them walked together down the hallway, Warren laughing to himself. She still didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. The man only looked a little frazzled, he was probably in a hurry to get back in order to let them go. He continued to laugh all the way to Mia’s room. By now he was quite comfortable with breaking into said room. There were many times where there wouldn’t even be a knock and he’d just walk in and start complaining, usually about Scott. Finally annoyed Mia shoved him in the shoulder and frowned.

“What?” she signed; eyes narrowed.

He laughed again, “What? You seriously don’t know what he was doing?” he peeked out the door and looked down the hallway, “I’m assuming he was with that blue chick,”

“Blue chick?” she signed confused, “do you mean Mystique?”

“Yes! Her!”

It took another long moment for Mia’s brain to understand what he was talking about. When she did her eyes went wide and her face flushed the brightest of reds. Her face was so red that Warren stopped laughing, looking more concerned now than anything.

“You alright?” he asked.

The girl quickly turned around and sped walked to her bed. She opened the side tables drawer and pulled a book out, opening it and shoving her red face into it. Warren was still stood by the door; she could feel his eyes on her. Mia knew that people got up to no good around here. The mansion was boring and there were plenty of empty rooms and spaces that had doors with the capability of locking. More than once had she been turned away from Jean’s room with the redhead half dressed and an embarrassed flush against her cheeks. Jubilee once compared Jean and Scott to rabbits and rightfully so.

The bed shifted and the book she was hiding behind was slowly pushed down until it was touching her lap. Warren’s head was slightly tilted to the side, blond curls hanging over his eyes. Without thinking she reached out and touched the side of his head. His hair was growing out nicely but he’d probably need the top trimmed a bit. The blond curls coming back hid most of the metallic tattooing that wrapped around his head, courtesy of that monster Apocalypse. He’d never said anything about them before but she had seen him staring at them in the mirror once or twice.

She pulled her hand away, “Sorry, it is getting longer,”

“It’s fine but are you trying to evade the question? You’re all of a sudden so red,” he pointed out.

At the mention of it her face flushed that bright scarlet shade again. A small laugh escaped his lips as he started to scoot onto the bed more. Mia grabbed his leg quickly and shook her head pointing to his shoes. The other day he got a bunch of dirt on her bed sheets and oh the hell she gave him for it. She even made him clean all of her blankets and sheets after that. He rolled his eyes and kicked his shoes off onto the floor. Mia was at least glad that this wasn’t the bed she slept in, more of a lounge if anything to read and look out the window.

“That better?” he asked.

She removed her hand from his leg and picked up her book again. Warren was pestering sometimes. Now more so than ever with how comfortable he was becoming around her, almost too comfortable. There was a shine that briefly caught her eye and she peeked over her book to see Warren staring out the window. Not many people came around to this side of the mansion. The view wasn’t great, mostly trees and well more trees. In the winter it was quite lovely when they were all coated in snow. She could see his reflection in the glass, he looked mesmerized. Mia looked back at her book and continued to pretend to read, she couldn’t quite properly take in the words and kept rereading the same sentence. She heard him yawn.

“You never answered my question, why were you so red?” he asked, turning around to look at her.

Mia shrunk deeper into her book. She could feel the familiar warmth heat up her face like a raging wildfire. The bed shifted again and she could feel his elbow poking the side of her thigh. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him lying on his stomach next to her, head resting underneath folded arms. One of the wings tapped her stretched out legs and then quickly retreated and drew into his back.

He laughed,” Are you embarrassed because they had sex?”

Her lack of response to the crazy question made him laugh even harder. Mia could practically see him laughing in her mind. The way his nose would crinkle, eyes closed, and the stupid smile he would get on his face. She wanted to jump into her book and hide there for the rest of her life. Never did she imagine that she would be sat here with him talking about stupid shit like this.

“What? Have you not -”

“- no!” she cut him off sharply, placing her book closed back onto her side table, “have you?” she asked quietly, her voice so small.

“Yeah...not a lot to fucking do in Berlin. None of it had any meaning to either of us ever, anything to just get the bloody cage out of my fucking head,” he responded disdainfully.

Silence.

“I’m surprised you haven’t, have you even been kissed?” he asked changing the subject.

There was a long awkward silence. If it wasn’t awkward before then it was unbearably so now. No guys ever showed any interest in her ever. At least not in the way Warren was referring to.

“Guys don’t go for girls who can’t speak,” she whispered.

She looked to her right and saw him staring up at her, blue eyes looking up through blond lashes. There was a dreariness to his eyes and she wondered if he had been getting enough sleep. Sometimes when she came for a wake-up call in the morning he was already up and dressed just sitting and waiting. One of the blond curls hung oddly in front of his face and on instinct she reached out and ran her hand through his hair. The mess of curls tangled around her fingers. She heard him sigh as she removed her hand and when she looked down at him his eyes were closed.

The angel seemed tired by how quickly he managed to fall into a deep sleep. She shook her head and went to climb off of the bed. Mia grabbed her book and climbed onto her own bed. The words on the page wouldn’t stick and before she could catch herself from doing so she fell asleep. A loud thump woke her hours later. She jolted awake, sitting up and looking around the room frantically. It was dark and her mind was still a tad fuzzy from sleep. The lamp she turned on flooded the room with light.

Her eyes narrowed at the digital clock lying on the floor. It was knocked off of the other bedside table. Something shifted on the bed and she blinked a few times before realizing Warren was still in here. All the cloudiness in her mind cleared when she realized she had fallen asleep in the same room as him. She jumped up and ran over to the bed he was on and grabbed his face, tapping his cheek with her hand.

His eyes opened, “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

“I thought you were dead,” she breathed out, hands still holding his face.

“Dead? I was asleep until you started smacking me,” he grumbled.

She removed her hands and waited for him to sit up. The angel’s hair was a mess and when he stretched his arms out his wings flared out as well. Mia cringed when his left wing hit the wall, scratching some of the paint.

“Sorry,” he murmured, wing pulling back in from the wall.

Mia bent down and picked the clock up off the floor and placed it back onto the bedside table. It was well past midnight. The two of them seemed to have slept through the entirety of dinner. She was surprised Jean or Jubilee didn’t come looking for her when she didn’t show up to dinner.

“Why would you think I was dead?” he asked, slightly concerned.

Her mouth opened to speak, she quickly closed it forming a thin line with her lips. Mia turned around and walked over to her bed, sitting down and wrapping her arms around herself. There was a long pause, wind blowing against the window outside. There was a reason she didn’t have people stay in here. She had the option to have a roommate. It was always an open option and the Professor always checked in with her at the beginning of the school year. Every year she declined. The few times Jean had stayed in here Mia either slept somewhere else or stayed awake until morning.

“I could have hurt you,” she signed.

“You can’t hurt me, unless you’re a plane,” he laughed bitterly at his own joke.

“This is not funny,” she signed, a frown on her face.

Warren didn’t seem to quite understand. Then again, he had this thing about him where he thought he was indestructible. It was quite annoying really. He knew he could hurt people but he didn’t think any of them could hurt him. Besides Kurt, he was still a little weary around him. Bad memories flooded through her mind again. Things she did in the past that she couldn’t take back. A lot of the kids here went back home during the holidays or had gifts sent to them on their birthdays, their families cared for them. Mia was shoved out of her car in the middle of the night at the front gates and her parents never looked back, rightfully so.

The feeling of the gravel scraping against her palms and knees. The smell of the earth around her and the sound of screeching tires were all she could hear. She had no idea where she was or why she was left there. Mia hadn’t realized Warren had moved until she felt his hand brush one of her tears away.

“I am fine,” she signed quickly.

“Fine my ass,” he rolled his eyes and removed his hand from her cheek, “get some sleep,”

Mia nodded and crawled under her mountain of blankets. She prided herself on the many soft blankets she managed to collect over time. Warren looked like he was about to turn the lamp out, darkness flooding the room as soon as it went off. She reached out in the darkness, managing to grab his sleeve.

“Goodnight,” she whispered.

“Night,”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detention is finally over, a play is assigned for reading and Warren can't help himself but believe he is indeed a Romeo - despite not knowing that the character evidently dies.

The last day of detention was celebrated with a reading day. Hank at this point could care less about what the two of them were doing. All of the textbooks were finished off a few days ago. It was a relief to have them all done and erased, stacked neatly on the shelf next to the door. Hank had stepped out again, he was comfortable with leaving the two of them alone in here by now. Mia was sitting in the desk next to Warren reading quietly to herself. The book was assigned as homework for English class. It was light work and entertaining enough, one of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

Warren didn’t seem to share the same fondness of the play. In fact, he hadn’t even started reading his yet. He claimed that he didn’t need to learn about a dead playwright. She could hear the sound of the blades of his wings sliding against one another. He was quite restless today. Probably because it was the last day of detention and there was no one who wanted out of here more than Warren. As soon as they were let off the hook Warren practically sprinted out of the room leaving Mia in the dust. She shook her head and went on to the cafeteria for dinner. Her friends were overjoyed to see her again. Jubilee jumped up to hug her.

“Oh god we’re so glad you’re back! There’s only so much of Peter and Scott’s stupidity we can take!” she exclaimed.

They sat down, Mia squished between Jubilee and Kurt. The table was practically buzzing everyone was so excited to see her. She looked to the blank space next to Scott which was filled in a blink of an eye by Peter. The speedster flashed Mia a grin and opened the carton of milk on his tray, taking a hefty swig of it.

“How was this detention?” Kurt asked, gently tapping her shoulder with his own.

“Boring,” she signed with a roll of her eyes.

The blue mutant laughed and offered her one of the fries on his plate. Mia smiled, nodding as a thanks and taking the fry. She was caught up on all the social drama that she had missed while trapped in detention. Jubilee was so excited that colourful sparks flew from her hands when she spoke. Peter and Scott were bickering about something while Jean spoke with Kurt about some homework for one of their classes. Mia excused herself from the table to get herself some dinner, Jubilee following her claiming she wanted another bread roll.

“So, how’s Warren?” she whispered as if it was some sort of secret.

Mia shrugged, “Fine,” she signed.

By the looks of the food laid out it was a barbecue night, she grabbed two burgers and a pile of fries. Jubilee eyed the extra food on her plate but said nothing, grabbing a bread roll like she said she would. They walked back to the table quietly and slid back into their seats. Jean eyed her plate as well and smirked.

“A lot of food there, what are you doing with it?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Warren,” Mia signed.

She took a bite of her own burger and ignored the curious stares from her friends. They were all still a tad skeptical of Warren, except for Kurt. The teleporting mutant was sometimes too sweet for this world. Regular conversation picked up again around the table. Most of it was complaining about classwork.

“How far are you into Rome and Juliet? Apparently, we’re having a class reading tomorrow,” Kurt said with an excited smile.

Scott groaned, “Great,”

“I think it’s great, a little sad, but great! I mean Romeo and Juliet is a classic!” Jubilee piped up.

English class the next day was a mess. Two-thirds of the students in the room wanted to be anywhere but here. The teacher was excited, she was overjoyed for today’s class reading. Warren was sitting in front of her hunched over staring blankly at the book. He still hadn’t read a single page. Scott was one of the first people the teacher called upon, she heard Jean mutter a joke under her breath. It was hard to keep from laughing from how awkward he was. The worst part was probably the standing. Whenever someone was chosen there was a heavy sigh followed by a chair scraping against the floor, another heavy sigh and then monotone reading. The teacher was picking names randomly out of a hat.

“Mia?” she called out.

A few muffled laughs were heard around the classroom at the mention of her name. She frowned and looked down at her book. There was an uncomfortable number of eyes on her in that moment.

“Try asking someone who speaks,” someone coughed out.

Something burned inside of her and without thinking she stood from her seat, chair scraping against the floor as it scooted backwards. A lot of the students were shocked, turning around in their seats and burying their faces into their books. Most of them knew what she could do by simply speaking, she could see some people squeezing their eyes closed waiting. Warren turned around in his chair and gave her a small nod. She nodded back and picked up her book. Mia met his gaze again. There was something so calming about his blue eyes.

“Come, gentle night; come, loving black-browed night. Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night…” she read slowly, heart pounding.

“Thank you, Mia,” the teacher said signaling for her to once again take her seat.

When she sat back down Warren flashed her a smile. It was short lived but memorable enough to have her unable to focus for the rest of the class. She spent the rest of her time studying the patterning on the blades of his wings. Her gaze travelled up to the sharp metallic talons at the top. The girl hadn’t realized class ended until he stood up and turned to face her. There was downtime in between classes. This, however, was Warren’s only class of the day because the Professor was still making sure he was getting ‘comfortable’ with the new environment.

“You coming?” he asked, motioning with his head towards the door.

She shook her head to break from her daze and nodded, quickly gathering her things and following him out the door. They ended up outside again, Mia sat under a tree. It was definitely becoming colder as the days went by. A lot of the trees were starting to change colours, pretty shades of red, orange, and gold surrounding them. Warren was off in the air doing whatever he did when he flew around. She didn’t mind, she was almost at the end of the play when he landed in front of her. The silver wings shone in the sunlight as he drew them in towards his back.

“You think I’d be a good Romeo?” he asked, looking down at her.

“No,” she signed.

“And why not? I think I’d be perfect,” he continued, crossing his arms.

Mia closed her book and looked up at him. The sun was right behind his head, giving him a sort of angelic look. She never noticed until now how pretty he was. Warren stared down at her still expecting an answer.

“Romeo dies,” she signed.

“Shit,” he cursed, surprised by the outcome of the story.

A laugh escaped her lips, she shook her head and picked up her book again continuing to read. He sat down next to her leaning sideways against the tree trunk. She noticed that he never really rested against his back, she only guessed it was because of the wings. Warren watched her for a while, staying as quiet as a mouse. The wind blew again and she shivered. Those warm summer breezes were long gone now. She lowered her book when the familiar smell of sulphur filled the air, a blackish-blue smoke and then Kurt was standing in front of them.

“Hello,” he greeted, waving at the two of them.

“Yes! Jean wanted me to invite you to our night on the town! To celebrate your freedom!” he explained cheerfully.

“Well have fun ‘cause I can’t bloody leave,” Warren grumbled, crossing his arms.

Kurt’s eyes lit up, “Jean asked Professor Xavier, he is allowing you one night’s break in your lockdown,”

“How fun,” Mia signed with a smile.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night on the town is full of creepers and poisonous words.

Going out was always stressful. After all, not all of her friends looked completely normal. Mia was no way embarrassed by them but she felt anxious for her friends. Not everyone was a fan of mutants and it got to the point where insults were hurtled across entire shopping mall cafeterias. They were standing on the front steps waiting for Scott to swing around with the car. This time they were given permission to use it unlike the stunts Scott pulled sometimes taking it without asking. It was cold, Mia was shifting her weight from foot to foot to keep her mind off the cold until one of the silver wings blocked the wind.

When she looked to Warren, he didn’t say anything or even look to her. The doors opened and Jean walked out and skipped down the steps. She looked at both Kurt and Warren, eyeing the two boys curiously.

“Just to make things easier,” she said, fingers touching the side of her head.

Mia raised an eyebrow and looked up at Warren. She jumped back in surprise, hitting his wing with her arm. The angel turned to face her; his own eyebrow raised now at her sudden jerky movements. He was still him, but not him at the same time. There was the same curly blond hair, curious blue eyes, but no metallic tattoos and wings. Mia stepped closer and reached around him, feeling the cool metal of one of the blades slide against her finger. It looked like she was touching nothing but the air but, in her mind, she knew they were still there.

Now she turned around to look at Kurt. He was less blue, scarred skin smoothed over; he looked every bit human as the rest of them. Before any of them could say anything, Scott pulled up with the car, tires rolling over the gravel. It was a long ride to the town since the mansion was located far off the road. She was crammed in the very backseat with Warren again, she didn’t mind. The two were chatting, or rather Warren was complaining to her about everything Scott was saying. When they got to the town Scott did a shotty job at parallel parking on the main street. Mia covered her eyes the entire time and leaned into Warren’s shoulder because it was too painful to watch.

The town was still very much alive at night. Mostly because the bars were still open and even some stores to sell goodies to the drunk citizens who were partying a little too hard. Jean and Scott were walking in the front, holding hands and chatting to one another. Then there was Kurt and Jubilee in the middle, Jubilee was answering any and all of his curiosities. Mia was in the back with Warren. The two of them were walking quietly side by side. He was looking around him at everyone and everything. It was definitely different from the school in every aspect.

At some point they all broke off leaving Mia and Warren to walk aimlessly around the town. Jubilee was keeping track of time, she told them to look for the fireworks when it was time to go back to the school. They didn’t know what to do with themselves. She had only been through the town a handful of times and Warren had never been here until now. As they walked, she felt the familiar brush of his wing against her back, subconsciously drawing her closer. Her eyes lit up when she saw that one of the corner stores were still open. She stopped in front of it, turning to face him.

“Drink?” she signed.

“Hell yeah,” he grinned.

They were in the corner store a lot longer than originally planned. Warren didn’t understand how to work a slushy machine which left Mia a giggly mess watching him struggle. She paid with the money saved up from her times assisting the professor. Charles always made sure to compensate her whenever she needed to use her persuasive voice for something.

“Y’know when you said ‘drink’, this was not what I fucking thought you meant,” Warren said as they walked out of the store.

Mia rolled her eyes and sipped on her own frozen drink. It was a mix of different soda flavours that would no doubt turn her mouth an array of different colours. She walked a little bit ahead letting him sulk to himself behind her. Indulging in his alcoholic tendencies was something she was not about to do. People were starting to pour out of the bars still singing and dancing. It was an interesting atmosphere; one she had never been a part of before. The longer they were out the more people poured out of bars. Her eyes were drawn to the neon signs hanging in store windows, air filled with laughter, and the warm energy surrounding her despite the crisp weather.

She stopped at a trash can to toss out the now empty slushie cup, something skimmed across her back. At first, she didn’t pay any mind to it, assuming it was Warren’s wings. After all, that was something that was an accidental constant considering the amount of time they spent around each other. This touch was different, it didn’t have the same lightness to it. She was pushed back; this touch was much more familiar. Warren was in front of her having shoved some drunk guy against the wall with one hand.

“What we’re not going to fucking do is touch girls when they’re not looking,” he growled.

The guy laughed, “Her body was calling to me man,”

When the words left the mans mouth Warren pulled him back and then slammed him harder against the wall. He hit his head so hard the guy was practically seeing stars. The anger radiating off of the angel reminded her of the day she first met him. Just pure aggression and hatred. Mia felt the wing in front of her, despite it being visually non-existent, flare out. She reached out and touched his back, hand placed in between his shoulder blades where the wings began. He stopped and reluctantly dropped the guy, spitting another curse in his direction before whipping around to face her.  


There was still such turmoil boiling in his eyes. The guy who was still dazed winked at her. Mia’s face scrunched up, eyes narrowing at the man in a sharp glare.

“Come on,” she signed to Warren, flipping off the guy as they walked away.

For the duration of their walk Warren’s arm was around her shoulders, wing brushing her shoulder every so often. She knew that things like that happened to girls her age at night. Luckily, she wasn’t alone. The way that man eyed her, touched her as if it was perfectly natural for him to be allowed to, gave her the chills.

“Shouldn’t have stopped me,” he mumbled.

She frowned, shrugging his arm off of her and taking his hand. There was a park nearby, empty save for a few empty beer cans. It was away from prying eyes, as well as ears. Mia pulled him behind the cover of one of the big playsets, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms.

“This isn’t Berlin!” she hissed, trying her best to keep her voice down, “he could’ve been seriously hurt and if you hurt him, you’d be arrested,”

Warren got into a defensive stance, “I’d like to see them try,”

“You don’t listen! The government doesn’t care – you’d be a mutant with a criminal charge and you’d be taken away to some facility for experimentation or some crazy shit!” she continued.

Silence ensued. Mia was just about out of breath. This was the most she had spoken in a long period of time. That same anger was simmering inside of her. He was just so goddamn frustrating sometimes.

“Oh yeah and what if I wasn’t there?” he asked, placing his hand on her arm.

Mia stepped closer and laid her hand on his chest, “I would tell him to get his hand off of me,”

The feeling was indescribable whenever it happened. Sometimes she got a surge of confidence, other times she felt warm, and right now she felt powerful. It was a dangerous feeling, addicting to feel and to have. His hand fell from her arm at the sound of her words. Mia couldn’t help her persuasiveness. She’s been like this since she could remember, even when she was a child, she remembered being given things sometimes when she asked nicely enough. Warren stared at her, but not in the usual way he did. Whenever someone was under her control, they seemed like a doll ready to dance to her every command.

She touched the side of his face, his head dipping down so he could get a better look at her. A sad smile formed on her lips when she looked at him.

“Everyone always thinks it’s a joke. They tease me, taunt me, even you don’t take me seriously. I mean right now even you’re under my control and they called you the deadly Archangel, one of Apocalypse’s four horsemen -”

“- Mia stop,” he growled.

That addicting powerful feeling was snuffed out rather quickly. It was easy to get caught up in the height of it. Sometimes her mutation turned her into a person she didn’t like. She quickly pulled her hand away from him, taking so many steps back that she hit the playset wall behind her. Something else happened at that same time. The illusion on Warren dropped, wings and metallic tattoos appearing curved around his face. Immediately she knew they were too far from Jean. Or she was too preoccupied with whatever she and Scott were doing to properly focus on the illusions. But that was the least of her worries. Warren looked pissed, shoulders squared and wings flared out with a look on his face that could strike anyone dead.

“I’m not his fucking horseman!” he yelled, “And I’m certainly not your play thing you can just fuck around with when you get angry!”

Mia shrunk in on herself. His anger was warranted. After all, she took it too far and called him things she shouldn’t have. She knew he wasn’t Apocalypse’s horseman, not anymore. That was the past and she shouldn’t have said it. The lights from the street lamps casted harsh shadows on his face, his blue eyes catching the light touching them in a way that made them as hard as diamonds. He stared at her both hurt and pissed but most of all in disbelief. Warren shook his head and turned around, getting ready to walk away from this conversation entirely.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

“No you’re not,”

There was a rush of air and suddenly he was off the ground flying away. A coldness settled along her skin when he was out of sight. She suddenly felt so empty, her chest ached and her faced began to burn. God she hated this stupid mutation. It was complicated and she had no idea how to control it. There was no doubt in her mind that he hated her. Mia covered her mouth and sunk to the ground, leaning against the wall of the playset. The wood chips prickled her legs but even that small amount of pain was incomparable to the pain in her chest. She started crying then, as loud as she ever had before.

She never felt like this when she fought with Jean or with Jubilee. This was something different. It hurt deeply in ways that she’s never felt before. She knew no amount of apology would make up for what she did. There was a whole lot of trust built up that just shattered before her very eyes. All because of her sharp voice and poisonous words.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The loss of Warren's friendship hurts Mia more than expected, Professor Xavier starts questioning her about her future.

Everyone thought Warren had run off. Much to their surprise he was at school the next morning, and the morning after that, and the morning after that. He didn’t sit with them at lunch and he sat away from Mia whenever they had a class together. The two of them didn’t speak for weeks. That sickeningly empty feeling haunted her to the point where she walked the halls like a ghost. All she did was go to class, eat, and then head straight back to her room. In the back of her mind she knew it was unhealthy but it was hard to break out of the cycle. He didn’t even so much as look at her which hurt the most.

They were so close to the point where he could burst into her room without it being weird and now it was like they never interacted a day in their life. Professor initiated her training again today. Recently she learned from Jean that Warren was training with them. It was strange and she wondered what made the Professor consider him to even train with the X-men.

She felt drained standing in front of Jean in the room. It was quiet with the exception of Jean’s humming. The redhead was surprisingly patient with Mia. Then again, she and Jubilee were on damage control helping Mia in anyway that they could. Mia was staring off into space. The argument she and Warren had that night was playing on repeat in her mind all day long. There was a spark in Jean’s eyes, she walked to the nearest wall and sat down on the floor leaning her back against it. The sound of the floor being pat drew Mia from her haunting daydream.

“Come sit, let’s chat,” Jean said with a smile.

Her body felt like a lead weight being dropped when she lowered herself down onto the floor. It was a relief from standing. All track of time was lost lately, she didn’t even really know what day it was today. Jean let out a sigh and patted Mia’s leg.

“Listen, you did something that freaked him out and -”

“- I couldn’t control myself and I said the shittiest things to him,” she blurted out.

Once again, the twisted words rung through her mind. It was loud enough that even Jean could hear the conversation in her own head. The redhead grimaced and patted Mia’s leg again, this time more slowly in a pitying way. Her head was hurting and it was only then did she realize how thirsty she was. Just talking, even if it was a sentence, to Jean helped a little. They sat side by side for a little while longer. Jean was talking about her and Scott and went into more detail about what the two of them did the other night. Apparently, he took her on some extravagant date to a riverside in the middle of the night. Mia was surprised the two of them didn’t get caught sneaking back in.

Jean was doing everything to get even the smallest hint of a smile on the poor girl’s face. She didn’t like seeing Mia so sad, no one did. It was coming to the end of their ‘training’ session. If anything, these sessions were a glorified gossip time. Jean stood, pulling Mia to her feet with her.

“Have anything to ask?” Jean prompted.

Mia sighed, too tired to really care, “Can you get me a water?”

It was difficult, she felt that energy radiating around her again. Mia crossed her arms and looked down to the floor. She couldn’t look at the stress in Jean’s eyes anymore. There was always a struggle to deviate from her words. Mia was still amazed that Warren managed to utter the words he did to her that night. Then again, she knew he was a fighter the moment they met. One minute went by and Jean hadn’t said anything. At this point she had to distance herself, distance was one of the only things that could really break the persuasion.

She was on her way to the Professor’s office, walking down the corridor when a shadow flew past the line of windows. Curiosity got the best of her and she looked out one of the tall window panes to see Warren outside in the air. It was entrancing watching him twist and turn, dive and then shoot back up into the air like a bullet. A door creaked open and she quickly turned on her heel to see the Professor.

“I was beginning to think something had happened,” he said before motioning for her to come into his office.

Professor Xavier’s office was always interesting. There were so many eye-catching trinkets that intrigued her to no end. He appeared back behind his desk, motioning with his hand yet again for her to take a seat. Mia complied, fitting herself into one of the two red upholstered chairs. He started writing in a folder, pen gliding smoothly across white paper.

“How was today’s lesson?” he asked.

Her lack of an answer let him know what an utter failure it was. Mia didn’t know why she had to keep doing it, nothing worked. There were lot’s of things that she knew wouldn’t work, her parents tried all of them before dumping her here.

“Have you started looking into schools? Your teachers say you’re excelling in your classes far ahead of everyone else,” he continued.

School. She always dreamed of going to a fancy University. In the next few months, she had the chance to apply to some. Professor Xavier always had high hopes for her, pushing her to do great things. There were so many things she could do, so many things she wanted to do. The mansion was her home and the thought of stepping out into the great wide world was nerve-wracking.

“I am undecided,” she signed, words spoken in her head.

The man didn’t need to look up to see what she was saying, he could already hear her in his own mind. Her eyes followed the edge of his desk to the stack of old newspapers. Mia always loved reading news articles and magazines. A lot of the papers were hidden around the school, mostly for the younger mutants’ sake. There were a lot of nasty articles in the paper about mutants. On the front page there was an image of the Empire State Building. One of Mia’s dreams was to go to New York City. It seemed so lively and bustling, everyone said it was the place dreams were brought into reality.

“On another note I have a task for you,” he said, putting the pen down and finally looking at her.

“What is it?” she signed, curious.

He opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a small stack of books and pamphlets. As soon as her eyes saw the name ‘Harvard’ written in bold letters on the top book she sunk back into her seat. Professor Xavier couldn’t be more pleased with himself. It looked like he had quite the collection. He slid the stack towards her.

“Not many mutants get opportunities like this Mia. A lot of these schools would be pleased to have you join them,” he smiled.

There was a nervous flutter in her stomach when she grabbed the top book. Harvard was so prestigious. All of the super smart and rich kids went there. Mia was no X-men and certainly not a hero. There wasn’t much holding her back from living the life she always dreamt of. The cover of the book was smooth underneath the palm of her hand. After a moment she stood and gathered the rest from the desk. She gave the Professor a curt nod and headed for the door, stopping when he spoke again.

“And if you do find a few that interest you please tell me, I would love to fly out with you to tour the school with you as your guardian,”

With that Mia nodded and slipped out of his office. In many ways she was grateful for the Professor. She didn’t want to know what she would be like without his guidance and gratuity. When she walked by the windows, she took a quick look outside for Warren. He wasn’t out there anymore, at least not from what she could see. The books were dropped in her bedside tables drawer upon reaching her room. It was eerily quiet and very lonely. Mia missed Warren and his pestering presence in her room. She rolled over and opened the drawer, pulling out one of the books and began reading.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was only a matter of time before they were drawn back to each other.

The temperature dropped like a bomb and soon there was snow on the ground. Mia was not one for trudging in the cold for no reason so she stuck inside. Whenever her friends went out for a snowball fight or to simply goof around, she stayed back and watched from the window. Late into the night one night while in the middle of homework she made her way downstairs as quietly as possible. Warren seemed all but a distant memory now. The lack of everything between the two of them had her almost forgetting about their once friendship entirely. That was until she ran into him in the kitchen.

Neither of them was supposed to be out of their bedrooms this late at night. He pretended he didn’t notice her and Mia did the same, ignoring him to the best of her abilities. When she walked past him, she could smell the cigarettes. He only really smoked when he was truly bothered. It was an activity to take his mind off of the terrible thing he was currently going through. She stepped into the pantry and grabbed a container of instant noodle. One thing she was glad about was that the pantry was always stacked so midnight snacks were easy to obtain. As soon as it was in the microwave the awkward waiting game begun.

This awkward silence was thick in the air. Mia’s eyes were glowed on the slow-moving digital numbers as they counted down. The sound of metal against a bowl seemed louder than it should be. Maybe it was because she was looking to focus on anything then the matter at hand. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to him staring down at a bowl of cereal, he looked exhausted. Then again, he used to take frequent naps in her room when she was around so she assumed he couldn’t sleep at night. She glanced back at the microwave, two minutes until her food was cooked.

Mia pushed off the counter she was leaning against and walked back into the pantry, rummaging through the boxes of cereal and canned goods. The top shelf was where it was, a box of chamomile tea. She took out two tea bags and headed back into the kitchen, setting the kettle up and waiting. Her noodles finished first, she took the Styrofoam container out and mixed the packet of seasoning in. The kettle was done not long after. Mia took two chine cups from the cupboard and placed them down on the kitchen island next to Warren.

She kept her eyes on the two cups but she could feel him staring at her. The angel was watching her ever move from the steaming water being poured to the tea bags being stirred around. He looked away when she turned around, placing the kettle back on the counter. When she arrived back at the island, he was staring back down at the cereal bowl again, very obviously ignoring her. Gently she pushed one of the tea cups over to him, making sure the warm china touched his hand. He looked up, eyes finally meeting her. It felt like ages since she’s seen those blue eyes.

“For sleep,” she signed quickly.

Without another word or look she picked up her food and tea cup and walked out of the kitchen. Ten minutes later she heard footsteps pass by her door and if she strained her ears, she could hear his door open and close.

By morning she was out and about around the school again. Now that there was a bit of snow on the ground most people were staying inside. The younger mutants were out frolicking around and trying to build snowmen despite the thin layer of snow. Class was more and the same. She was headed to the library to get a start on some of her homework. The halls were pretty silent, some classes were still in session. There were a few people in the library but for the most part it was quiet. As the tables were in use she headed to the back, turning down the aisle riddled with ancient science textbooks.

She was stopped in her tracks to see another person already there. Warren was sitting on the floor with his own notebooks, looking up when she approached. There was a sparkle of shock in his eyes which quickly hardened. Mia couldn’t blame him; he was still very much pissed with her. When he began packing up his things, she quickly shook her head.

Warren stood, staring down at her, “This is your spot,”

Mia lightly bit her tongue, dropping her books gently on the ground to free her hands. She didn’t want to do anymore speaking than she needed to, sometimes she needed to word her answers carefully.

“We can still share,” she signed, “this place,” she quickly added.

When he looked away from her, moving to the side she let out a breath of relief. She picked up her books and stepped past him, settling into the corner she normally sat in. The wall was cold to the touch, goosebumps rising along her skin under the sleeve of her sweater. The angel settled back down on the ground, keeping a distance between the two of them. She started on her textbook work, flipping through the pages. In the midst of locating the correct page she glanced over at Warren who was staring at his own work. The textbook reminded her of the detention the two of them shared. All of the long hours spent erasing stupid pencil markings while. She remembered holding his hand.

The thought of that had her immediately return her gaze back to the textbook. Mia missed Warren more than she was willing to admit out loud. Their friendship was different in a way she couldn’t quite describe. God how she wished she didn’t open her goddamn mouth. She began scrawling down the answers to the textbook questions in her notebook, trying her best to get his stupid laugh out of her head. The metallic sliding sound of his wings made her eyes dart back over to him, he still looked exhausted. He suddenly looked over to her and their eyes met, neither of them being able to look away.

“Are you okay?” she asked, hands moving slowly as she signed.

He looked away almost as quickly as he read her words. The angel was stubborn, she knew that as much. Warren made no effort to move, giving her more reason to scoot around to face him. They were far from each other, if she reached out, she still wouldn’t be able to touch him from here.

“I can’t fucking sleep,” he finally answered.

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. Mia remembered her first few weeks at the mansion being too scared to sleep. She didn’t feel safe and it took a long time for her to feel the way she did about the school now. Sometimes the chamomile tea helped but other nights she remembered staring into the dark abyss of nothingness that was her bedroom at night. It was cold and empty, devoid of any light. The settling sounds of the mansion was the worst part. He looked back at her again and there was something so sad about his gaze when he stared at her. Mia’s frown deepened.

“I miss you,” she signed slowly.

The silver wings started to curl around him in an effort to protect him from her words. As if Mia would ever hurt him. He whispered something incoherent, shaking his head. Mia sat there quietly feeling the pounding of her heart beneath her ribcage.

“I don’t have friends, I’ve never had friends and then I had you,” he said looking back at her with reddened eyes.

“I am sorry,” she apologized, hands shaking.

All she ever wanted to do was apologize. Mia didn’t mean to do the things that she did when she spoke. Which was why she didn’t speak. But then Warren came around and the more comfortable she became around him the more she would speak. The very thing that first brought them together was the same thing that tore them apart. His left wing opened up and she knew that this was his stubborn way of allowing her to come closer without actually telling her. She didn’t hesitate.

As soon as she was within arms reach though she was dragged into a hug. Mia was stiff for a moment uncertain of how to react. Warren wasn’t the hugging type, if anything she was always the one to do things like this first. He started to pull away, realizing her stillness but she was quick to stop him. The familiar smooth metal slid across her back, pressing her closer to him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her shoulder.

Mia closed her eyes, resting her chin against his shoulder. It was nice feeling him again. There was just something so relieving being in his arms. The world fell apart around her and it was just the two of them together. He sighed and the feeling of his breath against her neck made her heart flutter and skin bloom with thousands of tiny goosebumps. For a few minutes they sat in silence. She was twisting the blond curls at the base of his head around her fingers, eyes staring straight ahead at nothing. She was brought back into reality when she felt the wing move delicately down her back.

Slowly she pulled back, he seemed so very tired. They ended up back in her room to finish doing homework. The atmosphere in her room was different when he was here. It felt warmer, livelier. They were sitting next to each other on the bed by the window. She peered out the window, her breath fogging up the cold glass. The trees outside were topped with a thin layer of snow. It was fleeting, she knew it would melt soon because the weather was forever changing during this transition from autumn to winter. While she was continuing her work, she noticed how he kept lightly shaking his head or yawning. She reached out and laid her hand on his arm, he drearily turned his head to look at her.

“Sleep,” she signed, a soft smile on her face.

He shook his head and yawned, “I’m fine,”

“Sleep,” she repeated, her movements sharper.

The textbook and notebook on her lap were closed and moved to the near empty side table. Mia didn’t mind him sleeping in here, she wondered if he felt lonely in his own room. When he tried to disagree, she took his own textbook and stacked it on the side table as well. He yawned again for the one-hundredth time in the past five minutes. As soon as she started sliding off the bed his eyes went wide, hand reaching out and grabbing her wrist. She looked back at him; confusion evident on her face.

“You’re not leaving right?” his voice was quiet, eyes focused on the bed.

Mia shook her head. The sentiment was understood. He released her wrist letting her stand from the bed. For a second, she stretched, arms reaching outwards to grasp at the air. She walked over to her bed and grabbed a book she had been reading off the side table. Once turned she saw him already settled down on his stomach, head pressed into the plushy pillow. One eye opened and he looked up at her, a hint of a smile appearing on his face. Mia sat on the floor next to the bed, opening the novel to where she left off hours before.

Warren watched her as she read through her book. She stopped and turned her head to look at him.

“What?” she signed.

“Sorry for being a dick,” he apologized again.

She reached out and held her hand out to him. For a moment his gaze left her eyes, flickering down to her hand before sliding his hand out from under his head. Cautiously he placed his hand into hers, immediately she gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I won’t do that again, I promise,” she whispered.

They didn’t let go of each other’s hands. Mia went back to reading her book, her arm propped up on the bed next to her. It wasn’t long after that he fell asleep. The angel was out cold for a few hours giving her enough time to get through a large chunk of her book. He squeezed her hand, drawing her back to reality. The girl looked over and smiled to herself. Warren was still fast sleep, golden curls hanging in front of her eyes. With her free hand she reached out and swept them to the side, smiling to herself before going back to her book. She had forgotten all about the emptiness in her chest she felt the past few weeks. It was almost like it never existed at all.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Warren's birthday and Mia has something special in mind planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter is so long, please forgive me.

This morning she checked her calendar, turning the page to the new day. Mia marked out dates of projects and tests that were due ahead of time. Today’s page just so happened to be a reminder for a certain angel’s birthday in two days. Birthdays. Mia remembered celebrating a lot of birthdays by herself. The last few years she’s had a few good one’s though. Mia wouldn’t know what she would do without her friends. Seeing the little note she had made months prior filled her with such a determination.

Which was how she ended up at the shopping mall with Kurt and Jean. There were a lot of other teenagers around, some of them even being their ages. Of course, they didn’t just leave the school grounds. Although Jean did suggest sneaking out but Mia was too nervous to do that, especially during broad daylight. Luckily Professor Xavier trusted her enough to let her leave with the other two. The others wanted to come but they had class, including Warren. The angel actually questioned her on her way out, mostly asking where she was going.

He was the most suspicious because he knew Mia didn’t have a knack for leaving school grounds. Jean already knew about her plan. It wasn’t going to be a big party, more like a movie night and then surprise with a gift and a cupcake. There was no way the Professor would let them throw such an extravagant party like the movies but she knew he wasn’t averse to a small celebration. So now she was on the hunt for a present fit for the brooding angel. Mia made sure Kurt was available to come. She loved Jean but she knew her dismay towards Warren made her a little bias, meanwhile Kurt was quite genuine.

“I think you should just get him tequila and a box of cigarettes then call it a day,” Jean said while peering into one of the clothing store window.

Mia shook her head, “I am not encouraging bad habits with gifts,”

Despite her physical silence Jean could hear her in her head. Jean shrugged her shoulders and turned around, continuing to walk. Kurt was ahead of them curiously looking around, his eyes caught on a pair of large red rimmed sunglasses. He spun around with the glasses on his face when the two girls were close enough.

“Do you think they’re nice?” he asked.

“Yes, they are very nice,” Mia signed with a smile.

The mutant grinned and spun back around looking at the glasses in the mirror. While Kurt tried on a few more pairs at the sunglasses stand Mia turned to Jean. They had already been in the mall for a whole hour and she had yet to find anything that remotely reminded her of Warren.

“I don’t know what do,”

“What reminds you of him?” Jean asked, looking past her to see Kurt with neon green sunglasses now on his face.

Mia shrugged yet a million and one memories came to mind. All of which consisted of his rare smiles, the way his nose crinkles when he laughs, the way he would wrap his wing around her if she was close, whenever they held hands –

“Yes, okay I get it, I don’t need it all being pictured in my head as well. Are you sure you don’t like him?” Jean asked, half annoyed at the images now seared in her brain.

“Of course, I do, he’s my best friend,” she shook her head, “second to you of course!”

“Yeah sure. I can already feel him kicking my ass off the number one best friend pedestal. I mean do you like him, like how I like Scott,” Jean clarified.

She shook her head, “We’re just friends,”

She had that belief cemented in her mind. Throughout her teenage years no one ever showed any remote interest in her. When she was a child everyone around her made sure that she knew no one would ever love her. Yes, Warren was very attractive. That much she knew but she didn’t believe he could ever feel that way about her. She was surprised they were as close as they were. Being friends with the angel was enough for her. After all, she’s never had anyone like him before in her life.

“Whatever you say,” Jean responded shaking her head.

Kurt quickly walked over to him with a pleased smile on his face and red sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. The two girls were staring at each other, Mia looking a little more serious than normal. Kurt scratched the top of his head, just behind where the sunglasses sat.

“I think this looks better than the green ones,” he said.

Mia smiled at him and signed, “They are very suiting,”

The mall trip was quite short-lived. Mia was quick to find a gift some time after that. Jean even gave the gift her own stamp of approval while Kurt agreed with everything. She was pleased with how everything was going. A tad nervous for the little makeshift celebration in two days.

Those two days came rather quickly. Her friends were in on it to help everything go smoothly. They couldn’t say no to Mia no matter how much they wanted to. Her day started outside of Warren’s room waiting for him to wake up. He was surprised to see her standing there when he finally opened the door to leave. Mia grinned up at him, stepping to the side to let him out of the doorway. Once the door closed, he turned to her again, sleep still heavy in his eyes. He looked confused.

“Happy Birthday,” she signed, smile growing wider.

“You remembered?” he asked, surprised.

Any sign of fatigue he had radiating from him before was now gone. He seemed truly astonished that she remembered it was his birthday.

“Why would I not?” she signed, eyebrow raised.

Warren stayed silent, instead gently nudging her in the side to get her to follow. They walked the quiet halls silently. He didn’t really speak and Mia didn’t really know what to say. When she looked at him, she saw a sadness in his eyes and she wondered if she had done something wrong. Breakfast was even quieter. The two of them sat alone, everyone else being non-existent for the morning. She knew they were plotting, do everything behind the scenes for tonight. Mia was still trying to figure out how to bring up the whole movie night to Warren. She sat there contemplating while aggressively stirring her cereal around.

“What did the cereal do to you?” Warren asked.

She looked up from the bowl, face flushed red with embarrassment. The stirring stopped and she instead grabbed her glass of juice and chugged it down. He stared at her the entire time, a mixture of confusion and slight concern in his eyes. Mia finally placed the glass back down and sighed.

“Movie with everyone tonight,” she signed, “want to join?”

The few seconds she waited for him to decipher her hand gestures was painful. Their mini friendship break, as Mia dubbed it, didn’t exactly have him keeping up to date with his ASL lessons. She knew when he finally understood because there was that apprehensiveness to him. The way his wings shifted, tensing up, was his physical tell above all.

“It will be fun,” she signed, promise in her eyes.

“What movie?” he asked.

“Any one you want since it is your birthday,” she replied.

“Fine,”

As the hours went on, she only got more nervous. The sickening fluttering in her stomach only got worse. While she was pacing back and forth outside of the kitchen, Jubilee and Scott were in there making cupcakes, a gust of wind touched her back. She turned to see Peter stood with a grin on his face.

“Mia you have to come with me, I might’ve just had the biggest idea explosion ever,” he explained.

She sighed and held her arm out, letting him grab her. Within a blink of the eye her physical location had changed drastically. Instead of the corridor she was now in Peter’s messy bedroom. The speedster wasn’t exactly one for organization. She had been in his room very few times. Peter was always out and about, never really in one place for too long. He walked around, stepping over piles of clothes to a desk in the corner. She noticed a lot of electronics strewn about, even a new arcade machine that she hadn’t seen in prior visits. He turned around with a small piece of equipment in his hands.

“Now this, I think is the best thing to test out this theory,” he said excitedly, stepping over the piles of clothes back to her.

Once he was closer, she then realized what it actually was. It was a little tape recorder, brand new by the looks of it. Mia knew Peter had an affinity for ‘collecting’ things. It was easy when he could move faster than anyone could see. He thrusted the recorder into her hands and grinned again. Mia only looked at him confused.

“Okay so I know you can’t control your persuasiveness or whatever it’s called but I thought, and hear me out on this, that this could help. Of course, it’s all a theory and I have no idea if it will work but I was thinking you could record yourself speaking and play it back,” he said rather quickly, words spilling out of his mouth.

She was still confused.

“Basically, I want to see if your vocal magic can still work through a digital recording. So, if you’re up to it I’ll step out and you just say whatever for a minute and record yourself. We can play it back when I come in just make sure you don’t say anything too crazy that’ll have me running into walls or anything,” he explained just as quickly as before.

Peter spent a few more minutes trying to convince her. The girl was rather weary about the whole thing. Jean was strong minded and could resist her to a certain degree. The same thing with Warren, he was very string willed and it was hard to keep him under control. But Peter was very, she didn’t really know how to describe it. But after some much begging and pleading she agreed and he disappeared out of the room after showing her how to record on the small tape recorder. She held it up to her mouth, unsure of what to say for the first few seconds.

“This is really weird. I don’t really know what to say and I don’t even know if this thing will work. But um, I guess I could say this...tell me what was the last bad thing you did?” she spoke, voice a tad shaky and full of uncertainty.

The minute was up and she quickly pressed the stop button on the side. The door flew open and Peter was once again in front of her, recorder already in his hands. She waited, eyeing him wearily as he started to play back the recording. Every word she heard herself say made her all the more worried for him. When it came to the question, she closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the inevitable. But the question finished and the recording stopped. She popped one eye open to see Peter playing back the question again. There was a fire in his eyes and a proud smile on his face.

“Yeah that’s right. You asked and I’m not telling you anything,” he said with a smirk.

Mia rolled her eyes and playfully punched him in the arm. All of the nervousness melted away from her to the point where she could finally breathe again. After the relief came the utter surprise. She wondered why no one ever thought about that before. Peter was clearly a genius in his own right for thinking this up.

“A gift for you madam,” he said presenting her with the tape recorder.

“Thank you,” she signed, taking it from him.

This new development in her mutant abilities hit her ten minutes later when she was walking down the corridor to her bedroom. Mia was grinning like an absolute idiot clutching the tape recorder in her hands. This thing gave her such confidence. Now that she knew there was a way to work around her persuasive words, she had hope. Maybe one day she could learn to control it. She lost all track of time, sitting in her room and recording her voice over and over again. At one point she was even having a conversation with herself. It was strange how much joy this brought her.

Her gaze swept across her bed to her bedside table, seeing one of the university booklets peeking out from her half-opened drawer. The absolute joy bubbling inside of her mellowed out and she smiled fondly. Soon she would be embarking on a new chapter of her life and would be leaving everything that she holds dear here at the mansion. She’d have to tell them sooner or later and even later than that she would have to say goodbye. There was a knock at her door, familiar enough that made her scramble to shove the recorder in the drawer and hastily close it.

Seconds after the knock the door opened and Warren poked his head inside. She flashed him a smile and stood from her bed, motioning for him to come in.

“Hey uh, the movie is starting now and I came to find you so...” he trailed off, looking down at the floor awkwardly.

Mia turned her head to look at the window seeing how dark it had gotten. Had she really been locked up in here for hours? She stood from her bed and grabbed the sweater hanging on the bedpost. The living room was always a tad chillier, especially during the winter. Warren followed her all the way to the living room, partially hiding behind her when they entered the room. He had been training with the others but it was evident that he still didn’t feel as welcomed as he would’ve liked.

“Great you’re here, what the hell are we going to watch?” Scott asked, looking back over his shoulder while digging through the film collection.

Mia shrugged and turned to Warren, “Movie?”

“Haven’t watched many, whatever’s fine really,” he answered with a shrug.

The movie was one they have all watched a hundred times, except for Warren. Even Kurt has seen it a bunch of times which was shocking. Then again, the blue mutant seemed to be quite the movie buff. The Breakfast Club had become something of a classic for the group to watch. Silence settled over the room through the beginning of the film. They were sitting on the floor in front of the television. It was far more comfortable on the floor than squished on the couch, at least it was for the angel. Mia kept shifting around, mostly due to nerves. Despite her eyes being trained on the television her mind was focused on other things. She was having a conversation in her mind with Jean, talking about the cupcake birthday surprise.

Sometime during the mid-point of the film, she ended up leaning against the angel. The familiar smoothness of his wing gently rested against her back, curling around her. She turned her head to look at him, he hadn’t spoken for a while. The colours and light from the television danced against his face, his eyes were glowing. It was like he knew she was watching because he turned his head to look at her, their noses almost bumping together. Mia quickly looked away, feeling warm breath brush against the side of her face when she did. Her eyes met Jean’s, who was seated with Scott up on the sofa to her left, and the redhead smirked.

When the film ended, she quickly detached herself from Warren. She moved so fast that he had to catch himself on his elbow to avoid fully teetering over backwards. Her face flushed red when she noticed, quickly signing apologies to him. Jean appeared behind her, grabbing her by the shoulder and explaining that they were heading to the washroom. She said it with such sternness that no one questioned them as they left the room. The kitchen wasn’t far from the living room, a minute’s walk.

“You should just kiss him already, he clearly likes you,” Jean blurted out once they reached the kitchen.

"We are friends," Mia reminded, thinking loudly enough for it to make Jean's head ring.

Mia almost dropped the plate of cupcakes she was holding upon hearing that. Immediately her face went hot, flushing a bright shade of scarlet. Jean grabbed another plate and the package of birthday candles from the drawer.

“So are we doing this or what?” Jubilee asked skipping up to the kitchen island.

The girl nodded and took one of the cupcakes and placing it on the plate Jean was holding out. Mia opened the package of candles and stuck one of them in the middle of the cupcake. Coloured sparks escaped Jubilee’s fingers, lighting the candle on the cupcake. At this point Mia knew there was no turning back. The two girls walked in front of her, shielding her from any prying eyes on the way back to the living room. When they got back to the living room her face fell.

Warren was gone.

Scott and Kurt were bickering with one another. She stood there frowning, eyes searching the room for any sign of the angel. Jean looked enraged, strutting up to Scott and butting into the bickering. She only caught a few words exchanged between the three of them. Something about Scott saying something that in turn started a fight with Warren. Kurt broke it up apparently and Warren left still annoyed. That sounded about right, Scott and Warren didn’t get along the best of times. She slipped out of the room unnoticed.

It was a challenge to locate him in the mansion. Eventually she tried his room, almost giving up when she didn’t find him there either until she saw the window was open. Mia was far from an idiot and knew that it was easy to pull yourself onto the room from the specific window. For Warren it was easier, he could just fly up there instead of climb. She left the plate and cupcake on the cluttered bedside table before crawling across his bed to the window. She turned around, sitting on the window ledge holding onto the open panes. Her legs shook as she slid her feet underneath her, pushing herself up at an awkward angle.

There was a long way down between her and the ground. She removed one of her hands from holding onto the pane and reached up on her tip toes to grab onto the ledge of the roof. A hand grabbed onto hers and practically dragged her up onto the roof. Warren stared at her wide eyed with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He took it out of his mouth and continued to stare at her flabbergasted.

“What the fuck are you doing? You could’ve fell!” he scolded.

“You left,” she signed, ignoring his words.

An annoyed sigh escaped his lips as he brought the cigarette back and took a slow drag. Mia watched when the smoke blew out through his mouth. The smell made her cringe involuntarily. When he saw that he took one more quick drag and then tossed it to the ground, crushing it under his foot. She looked to the sky when he went to look at her. There were thousands of stars dotting the dark sky. A few clouds were sailing across the sky, easily recognizable as snow clouds. She wondered when it was going to start to snow again.

The sudden warmth pressing against the left side of her body drew her mind back to reality. He was standing right next to her to the point that their shoulders were touching. Her hand was hanging uselessly at her side, she sighed and let her head fall against his shoulder.

“I looked for you,” she signed.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

When her hand dropped back to her side, he took it, lacing their fingers together. Mia stood still, her breath catching in the back of her throat. They’d held hands before but this felt different.

“Happy fucking birthday to me I guess,” he said aloud, looking up at the sky.

Mia removed her head from his shoulder and frowned up at him. There was so much she still didn’t know about him and oh how she wanted to know every intricate detail. A part of her wanted to take all of the hurt from him. Warren was angry, resentful, strong headed, stubborn, overly confident; but he was also patient, sweet, funny, and not to mention a hugger. Well, he wasn’t so much of a hugger but he did have this thing with touching people. Mia noticed how he would immediately latch onto her as soon as he was allowed to. With him holding her hand at the moment she could feel the desperation to keep the contact.

She didn’t want to let go, so she didn’t.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mia decides to open up to the angel about how she got here.

A number of words were on the tip of her tongue, so many things that she wanted to say to him. Jean’s words from earlier were eating her up on the inside. The more she mentioned Mia’s apparent ‘eyes’ for Warren the more she couldn’t help thinking of him like that. The moonlight made the engravings in the silver wings clear as day. They were still standing and still holding hands. A gust of wind made her shiver. It was bitter cold up on the roof. He noticed and let go of her hand, turning to face her.

“It’s cold, you should go in,” he said.

She shook her head, “You can come in too,” she signed.

There was a stubborn look in her sharp eyes as she stood there looking at him. The last thing she was going to do was leave him up here alone on his birthday. The spark that ignited in his eyes and the slight smirk that pulled at the corner of his mouth made her nervous.

“Fine, if you want to be difficult,”

Mia didn’t have time to move out of the way, being swept up in his arms. He walked towards the edge of the roof; each step closer made her all the more nervous. She looked between him and the ground that seemed to be ages away. Mia began shaking her head aggressively when he stepped up on the ledge.

“You are crazy,” she signed.

“Maybe but come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” he asked while moving one foot off the ledge.

Immediately her arms were up and around his neck, holding onto him for dear life. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. Mia didn’t trust the world around them and mother nature’s cruel way of punishing people like them. He teetered forwards in a teasing manner and she squeaked, pressing her face into his neck. She felt him chuckle, could hear it to. Mia didn’t even notice when they were off the ground, she was too busy squeezing her eyes shut and holding onto him like her life depended on it. Warren ducked back into his room through the window, landing on his bed and having his knees buckle from the plushy surface beneath his feet.

They landed much harder on the ground, she felt it and heard it when he jumped off the bed onto the hardwood floor. Mia lingered for a moment longer, her face still resting in the crook of his neck. He smelled of tobacco and leather with the slightest hint of liquor. When she felt the arm underneath her knees loosen, she pulled her face away from him. She was back standing on solid ground seconds after. Her eyes wandered past him to the cupcake still on the bedside table, eyes lighting up as she briskly walked past him and grabbed it.

“Happy Birthday,” she mouthed, holding the cupcake out to him.

His eyes swiftly moved down from her face to the plated cupcake in her hands. He eyed the dead candle on top, feeling around in his jacket pocket before pulling out a lighter. When Mia laid eyes on it, she snatched it from her hand and lit the candle herself.

“I’m supposed to do that wish shit now right?” he asked, scratching the back of his head.

She nodded and brought the plate closer, eyes trained on his. The small flame flickered in front of his face, giving his skin a warm orange glow. She could see the reflection of the flame in his eyes before they closed and the candle was blown out. The room was immediately bathed in the eerie darkness from before. He took the plate from her hands and she moved to turn one of the lamps on to make the room livelier. Now that she did what she wanted to do Mia didn’t know what to do with herself. It wasn’t often that she found herself in his room. They always spent time in her room, never in his.

Her eyes travelled across the room. It was a stark difference from the shambles she saw it in many weeks prior. Of course, it wasn’t spotless. There were some clothes on the floor, spare bed a mess, and desk cluttered with a few dishes as well as unfinished schoolwork. There were also a few scratches on the wall along with holes the shape of blades in the wall across from his bed.

“Did you make this?” he asked, voice muffled.

The girl spun around on her heel, covering her mouth with her hand to muffle her laughter when she saw the cupcake shoved in his mouth. She shook her head; Mia couldn’t bake to save her life. The half-eaten cupcake was then held out towards her, she simply shook her head again.

“Your birthday, your cupcake,” she signed with a smile.

Warren rolled his eyes and took another bite, a bit of frosting getting stuck to the tip of his nose unbeknownst to him. He shifted around on the edge of his bed, moonlight catching one of his wings. The shine drew her eyes to them instantly. Mia was always so fascinated by them. At night sometimes she wondered what he would look like with the fluffy white ones Kurt told her about. The engravings were quite curious. They were very linear and perfect.

“I can’t feel them like I used to,” he said quietly.

Her eyes flickered down to the floor, embarrassed that he caught her staring. He wiped his face, more specifically the icing from his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. This gave her the chance to draw her eyes back up without it seeming weird, an embarrassed flush of red was still present on her cheeks.

“You could feel them before?” she signed; eyebrow raised.

“They were apart of me. Every time they were cut off, they grew back,” he answered, voice still quiet.

“Cut off?” she whispered in disbelief.

He perked up at the sound of her voice, despite how quiet it was. There was something sad in her eyes when she looked at him. She didn’t even want to imagine that happening to him.

“I wanted them gone for fucking ever and now that they are I,” a sad laugh escaped his lips, “I kind of miss them,”

The bed sunk slightly as she sat down next to him. Warren still didn’t know a lot about her. A part of her was scared to tell her how she got to where she currently was. It wasn’t a nice story and she certainly wasn’t the hero of it. She clasped her hands together, rubbing her knuckles with the tips of her fingers.

“When I was young,” her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, “when I was young, I didn’t know what I could do. I just thought everyone was always really nice to me. If I wanted a cookie, I would get a cookie, if I wanted a puppy, I got a puppy,”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,”

She sighed, “Kids say things they don’t mean you know? I didn’t realize what I could do until the boy picking on me in fifth grade walked in front of a car when I told him to,”

There was an uncomfortable silence that made its way around them when she said that. She couldn’t blame him. There was power in her words. She could get away with just about anything if she really wanted to. An aching started in her chest, just beneath her ribcage. But she pushed on, she had to tell him everything.

“It wasn’t put on me, they said it was an accident. But the kids all knew and my parents did too. They all looked at me like some sort of monster, which they were right to do. I got tested all the time, constantly getting stabbed with needles and getting brain scans. A few girls were picking on me, leaving me nasty notes. One day she shoved me and told me to kill myself and without thinking I told her to do the same. She did it and that night my parents took me in the middle of the night,” she took a deep breath.

The pain in her chest was getting stronger and she was squeezing her hands so hard her knuckles were turning white. She could still smell the rain in the air, feel the gravel scraping her arms and legs when she was shoved from the car, hear the car door slam shut and the car speed away.

“I understand if you don’t want to be around me anymore,” she said quietly.

“You must be bloody crazy to think that. You were a kid who couldn’t control her words. I worked alongside Apocalypse willingly. What you did was fucked up but not as fucked up as what I did,”

It was a relief knowing he wouldn’t leave her. Mia didn’t know if she could take that again. There was something special about him and the thought of losing him made her heart ache. He reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. She was quiet, staring dead ahead. Those memories playing on repeat once again in her head. It was getting late and she needed to head to bed. She realized this when her wandering eyes landed on the digital clock. Mia figured that she would give him his presents in the morning.

“Thank you,” she whispered, partially detaching herself from him.

Before she stood from the bed, she bit the bullet and kissed his cheek. It was nothing too special and she certainly didn’t linger. The blond was left stunned and under the moonlight she was just able to make out the flush of red on his face. Mia took that moment to leave, signing a ‘goodnight’ and escaping to her own room. She was only able to breathe when her bedroom door was closed.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working on homework turns into a confrontation of Mia's schooling in the next year.

It was by chance that he found them. Mia wasn’t paying any attention while she was doing homework on her bed. Warren was being the procrastinator that he was and was looking for any excuse not to do any homework. The University and College books and pamphlets weren’t exactly hidden well.

“You’re leaving,” he said, more to the universe than anything.

Mia looked up from her notebook, confused by what he was talking about. Then she saw the drawer open and him holding one of the thin books in his hands. Panic quickly crossed her eyes as she darted up from her bed, snatching the book from his hands. It was more aggressive than she wanted it to be so she flashed an apologetic smile. The book was placed back in the drawer and was then closed.

“Were you going to tell me or were you just going to sneak off into the night and hope I wouldn’t notice?” he asked, a slight venomous tone to his voice as he crossed his arms.

“No, of course not!” she signed quickly.

There was silence between the two of them. She saw the hurt flash across his eyes and it made her chest ache. Of course, she was going to tell him, tell all of them. But that was going to be later on. Mia had some idea by now of what school she was looking at. She knew he would react strongly to this. Warren wasn’t exactly one for making friends and her leaving would be a definite blow to his social life. It was practically non-existent without her.

“I want to do something with my life,” she signed slowly.

In truth, she didn’t want to be stuck here forever. The school was her home, yes, but she couldn’t be here forever. There were so many things she wanted to do. Despite the anxiety it brought her, thinking about striking out on her own, she knew she needed to do it. If she didn’t, she would never leave.

“Where are you looking to go?” he asked after the long silence.

“New York,” she signed, a sheepish smile on her face.

The Big Apple was always someplace she wanted to visit. Everyone always talked about it and she had seen it on television a number of times but now she wanted to experience it. Mia had never been to a big city before. It was always a dream of hers. Warren’s eyes moved to the drawer and then back to her. Reluctantly she nodded, allowing him to open it and root through all the books until he pulled out the ones for the schools in New York City. For the next few hours, they sat together going through them. Warren helped with the pros and cons, mostly talking about the cool things close to the schools.

“You need to make sure the dorms are big. I don’t want to be stuck in a small and shitty room when I come visit,” he said with a sly smile.

She slapped him in the arm, “Who says you can come visit?” she signed with a smirk.

“I have a feeling you’ll be missing this pretty face,” he made a circular motion with his hand around his face.

Mia rolled her eyes and looked back down at the books. She narrowed it down between two schools, NYU and Columbia. Although the longer she sat there and read about it the more she was falling in love with NYU. It was a hard decision; she would have to see them herself to really know.

“Seriously though, I can visit right?” he asked.

“Yes,” she signed nodding her head.

She laughed at the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. He nudged her forwards with his wing and laughed himself at the surprised look on her face. The next five minutes was spent playfully pushing or nudging each other. So much so that it ended with Mia falling off her bed and onto the floor.

“Sorry,” he said, trying to hide his smile as he looked down at her from his place on the bed.

One of his wings was hanging down off the bed. She carefully grabbed it and yanked him off the bed as well. He landed on his stomach, half on top of her. One of the wings were on top of her face. It was cold against her forehead. Mia couldn’t help but laugh, giggling underneath him. Warren was quick to move off of her, her laughter ceasing when she saw the scared look on his face.   
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, looking her up and down when she sat up.

“No,” she signed, “Warren I am fine,” she reassured him.

He was still wary, she reached out placing his hand on his arm. When he raised his head, she gave him a reassuring smile.

Mia met with Professor Xavier later on that day like planned. He had a cup of tea waiting for her when she arrived at his office. The man was leaning over his desk scrawling in a notepad. He looked up and smiled when she entered the room with a few of the books in her arms. Mia took a seat in the empty plushy chair, placing the few books on the desk in front of her.

“I see you’ve made your choices,” he said taking the books and skimming through them.

“Yeah. I had some help,” she signed.

“I presume Mr. Worthington was rather helpful in your search,” he raised an eyebrow.

She nodded and looked down at her lap feeling her face grow warm. It was impossible to keep anything from him. The man could read people’s thoughts after all, one of his many mental talents. Charles put the books back down and motioned towards the cup of tea. Mia flashed him a smile and took the warm cup in her cold hands. It was nice, especially during this cold weather.

“I can set up tours for next week. I heard New York City is lovely this time of year,” he said with a smile.

She put the cup down, “Thank you,” she signed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mia leaves with the Professor to tour potential schools for the coming year, neither of them know how bad it would be to leave.

The day approached rather quickly for when she had to leave. The night before she was a mess of butterflies, tossing and turning in her bed unable to catch a wink of sleep. Just the thought of going somewhere so very public was nerve-wracking. New York City had millions of people, way more than the town they were in. The flight wasn’t going to be long from what Charles had told her. He had some business to attend to while there so they were staying the night at a hotel.

In the morning she was up before the sun had even touched the skyline. Orange light flooded the corner of her room when she turned the bedside table lamp on. She dug through her closet and pulled out a sad looking luggage. It was pretty old and she rarely used it for when the Professor needed her assistance somewhere far. Mia had the basics all packed when there was a gentle knock at her door. She looked over her shoulder out the window; it was still pretty dark outside. Her next thought as she hurried over to the door was that it was the Professor and she was late.

When she opened the door, she let out a long sigh and turned around. Warren stood there looking rather tired but nonetheless entered and closed the door behind him.

“What, not who you were expecting?” he said while yawning.

She shook her head and yawned herself. The two of them were still in their pajama’s, Warren walking like a zombie over to the spare bed. He fell down onto it making the bed squeak loudly, she immediately shushed him. Mia packed a few more things and then walked over to the bed to flick him in the forehead.

One eye popped open, “What?”

“Why are you here?” she signed.

In his sleepy state it took a few seconds to register what she was signing to him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning yet again. Mia had to walk away, just the sight of his tired state was making her exhausted. After all, she had yet to catch a single minute of sleep.

“Came to wish you well and all that shit,” he said, yawning again.

Mia rolled her eyes, back to him as she folded a shirt and placed it on top of the small pile in her luggage. She still had yet to get changed. As she scurried around the room Warren fell back on his side on the spare bed. She stole a glance over to him while pulling a sweater from her closet. He looked exhausted, more than her and that was saying something. Mia disappeared into the washroom for a while to clean herself up and get changed. She had to look presentable. When she walked out of the washroom there was a sharp red-light streaking in through the windows. Some of that light painted Warren, bathing his face and curving over his shoulder to catch a part of his wing.

The boy only woke up when he heard the clasps on her luggage snapping shut. She heard the bed behind her creak and she looked over her shoulder to see him sitting up. A soft smile appeared on his face, one of those rare smiles that made her feel all giddy inside. He stood and walked over, staring down at her intently before reaching out and brushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear. His hand lingered for a moment longer than necessary, she didn’t mind.

“You’ll be back right?” he asked softly.

“Of course,” she whispered in return.

There was something there for a moment, something that appeared in his eyes. She couldn’t quite decipher it. In an instant it flickered away and he dropped his hand from the side of her face. Mia turned her lamp off and headed out of her room, Warren following and closing the door behind him. They stood in the hallway facing each other for what felt like forever. She placed the luggage on the ground next to her and stepped forwards giving him a hug. Warren stood stalk still for a millisecond before wrapping his arms around her, chin resting on her shoulder.

“Remember what I said about the dorms,” he said as they pulled away from each other.

“Yes, right your issue with crummy dormitories,” she signed back with a smirk.

Warren walked with her to the front foyer where they met Professor Xavier and Hank. She gave the angel one last hug, a rather quick one, before leaving. The plane ride was not very long just like Charles said. She actually managed to catch some sleep on the way there. When they arrived at the first school the sun was midway in the sky. There were a number of students walking around the campus hurrying out of the cold to class. Their tour guide for NYU was very kind and an apparent friend of Charles’.

“What about the dorms?” she signed to Charles.

“I was going to suggest an apartment close by, you’re responsible enough,” he said with a smile.

That made her stop in her tracks. An apartment, her own place. The thought of that made something swell inside of her, she felt the familiar prickle of tears at the corners of her eyes. There wasn’t a lot that she called her own. Mia was grateful for everything Charles gave her and, in all honesty, she didn’t feel like she deserved it.

“Oh, stop that, if there’s any person who deserves this its you,”

Mia kept her composure for the sake of the tour guide but all she did was profusely thank him in her mind. The tour guide continued on, showing them all around NYU. She was quite taken by the location. That was another thing Warren told her to look out for. In his words, he didn’t want her in a ‘shitty place with shitty people’. The guide also informed her of a number of ASL programs around the school. She wasn’t sure what Charles said to the woman about her so Mia was cautious with what she signed about herself. For the most part Charles translated but the woman knew some rough sign language to get the gist of what Mia was saying most times.

She had time to wander around campus by herself while Charles discussed more about the school with the tour guide. Apparently, he wanted a more in depth understanding of what Mia would be getting into. The thin layer of snow crunched underneath her boots as she walked through the courtyard. It was lovely here. There was something about this school, she could see the next few years of her life here. Possible scenarios of her life ran through her mind. Her friends visiting her here, classes, making new friends, exploring the city with Warren.

The other two schools didn’t compare to NYU. They didn’t give her the same feeling as NYU did. She was so very sure about her choice now. Charles headed out late into the afternoon for some business and dropped her off at the hotel. It was lavish and the room she had was almost as big as her room back at the school. Later into the evening something didn’t sit right with her. There was this awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that gave her spikes of anxiety. She was pacing back and forth in the room when she heard the Professors voice in her head instructing her to pack up and head to the lobby.

He sounded worried, something that was rare with him. The man was usually very level-headed so to hear him worried made Mia’s anxiety worsen. The man didn’t say anything to her and quite frankly she was too scared to ask. Charles was very determined to get on the next plane home. She wondered if his business meeting didn’t go well, sometimes that happened. But she had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t that. An hour later she couldn’t take it anymore, turning in her chair on the plane to look at him.

“What happened?” she signed; worry etched into her face.

Charles lack of response made her sigh. Her mind had millions of terrible scenarios. If it was just a simple business meeting gone bad, he would’ve told her. The closer to the school they got the worse she felt. Hank picked them up from the airport, he was waiting out at the curb pulling nervously at his fingers. Mia noticed the angry red scrape on his forehead and paused, grabbing his arm and tugging on the sleeve.

“What happened?” she signed, gesturing sharply.

The brunet stared at her with his mouth hung open, unable to form any words. Charles gave him a stern look and it was then that she knew they were keeping something from her. She was about to speak, to demand to know what happened but instead she bit her tongue keeping quiet. The ride back to the school was painfully long. She wasn’t informed of what happened until they reached the school gates which were bent out of shape as if something pried them open. There was a hole in the side of the school building, front doors busted down, her heart dropped to her stomach.

“Juggernaut came here looking for me. Jean and the others met him and tried to keep him as far from the children as possible. Warren apparently....”

At the mention of his name her heart fell further. She only caught a few words after that, completely zoned out. Her heart was hammering in her ears and as soon as the car stopped, she ran out and up the front steps. Inside the foyer was a mess. Furniture was smashed, broken glass scattered across the floor followed by some holes in the hardwood. Jean was sitting on one of the steps with Jubilee. There was blood smeared across her cheek and an ice pack against the side of her head, she looked exhausted. Jubilee didn’t look to bent out of shape but there was a bruise blooming on the side of her face.

When they laid eyes on Mia Jubilee was the first to run to her, wrapping the girl in a tight hug. It took a few seconds to realize that the poor girl was weeping.

“Mia it was so awful, he came in here and started tearing the place apart. I was trying to get the kids away with Warren when he caught Jean and before I could say anything Warren went after him and –” Jubilee’s words became incoherent.

She made eye contact with Jean who looked like she was seconds away from breaking down. The attack had them all off guard with no time to prepare. Mia remembered that when everything with Apocalypse was happening, they at least had a small amount of time to come up with a plan. By the looks of it the attack was earlier on in the day because Jean was still dressed in pajamas. It was another minute before Jubilee could properly compose herself.

“Where is Warren?” Mia signed quickly, still worried sick.

“Juggernaut grabbed him during the fight by his wings....and he ripped them clean off his back,” Jean sounded dead as she spoke.

Those words barely registered in her mind. There was a sense of dread that began to swallow her whole. She didn’t know what to do but the thought of that made her sick. When the Professor came in with a grim look on his face Mia begin to panic. It was hard to keep calm; she wasn’t here she had no room to be sobbing. Charles tried to explain it to her and the entire time she stood there with watery eyes and a trembling lip.

“He’s down below in the infirmary with Kurt and Scott. But listen to me Mia he’s very weak and needs rest. I know you want to see him but please trust that he is in good hands,” Charles spoke calmly.

Mia blocked it all off, everything she felt in that moment she smothered down. As soon as he was done speaking, she walked away to the supply closet and grabbed a broom and dust pan. She busied herself with cleaning up the broken glass and gathering anything else that was movable into a pile. Jean watched her, sitting on the staircase still quite dazed. A while later Jubilee came to help her, kneeling down to carefully pick up the shards of glass and place them onto paper. Mia saw her and left her broom, rushing over and dropping to her knees.

“It’s okay I can do it,” she whispered, her voice quite shaky.

“Mia you can’t do this by yourself...” Jubilee trailed off when she saw Mia’s face.

The girl looked absolutely terrified. Her hands were shaking to the point that she accidentally cut herself on the shard she tried to pick up. It stung and she hissed, bringing her hand to her chest. Jubilee frowned and slowly reached out, taking her friends hand to inspect it.

“I don’t think you need stitches but you definitely need to get it wrapped up, come on,” she said quietly, helping Mia to her feet.

As they were walking past the staircase Jean reached out and grabbed Jubilee’s wrist. The two girls had a wordless exchange. Jubilee nodded at the redhead and her wrist was released. She led Mia down towards the infirmary but she made sure the girl was kept away from it.

“You have to promise me you’ll stay here,” Jubilee was serious.

Mia nodded, “I promise,” she mouthed.

While she waited, she stared down the corridor towards the infirmary. It was so close; she could see him now if she really wanted to. In reality no one would be able to stop her, she was far too persuasive. But she stayed because she wasn’t that person. A promise was a promise. If Warren needed rest then she would let him rest. Jubilee reappeared a few minutes later, she looked sad. The last thing Mia was going to do was question her. She knew everyone in the infirmary got hit the worst. They were sitting on the couch in the living room, Jubilee wrapping her hand with bandage, when Mia asked.

“How are Kurt and Scott?” she could feel the pull to her voice as she spoke.

“Kurt has a few broken bones, ribs mostly from being thrown around. Scott’s dislocated his shoulder and got a concussion,” Jubilee said easily, eyes although narrowed to give the girl a sharp look.   
Her friend was going to say something, mouth already open to call Mia out on her misuse of her abilities but she didn’t. Jubilee seemed too drained and was far too nice to do so, understanding that Mia was probably just eager to know in order to satiate her anxiety. Mia wanted to ask about Warren. The words were on the tip of her tongue and she was so close to speaking but the better part of her didn’t. It hurt to move her hand after Jubilee wrapped it up. Signing was going to be difficult with the sharp pain that would hit her whenever she tried to close her hand.

They both turned around when someone shuffled into the room. It was Jean, still dressed in her dirtied pajamas with the semi-melted ice pack pressed to the side of her head. She looked like a ghost and even moved like one. Jubilee moved over on the couch, patting the space that was now between her and Mia. The redhead sat down without so much as blinking, staring straight ahead at the remarkably intact television.

“He just came out of nowhere,” she whispered.

“Who did?” Jubilee asked, reaching out and touching Jean’s shoulder.

“I was in the kitchen with Scott and he just broke down the front doors screaming for the Professor,” she continued, sounding distant.

Jean was a strong person and Mia respected her so much for it. It was rare that she saw her cry or even tear up. Seeing her friend’s watery eyes and the sadness on her face made Mia’s heart break. The two girls leaned into Jean, wrapping their arms around her. They sat there for a long time. Later that day the Professor issued an early Christmas break. Most of the kids enrolled at the school left to go home, after all a lot of them still had loving families. There were a handful of people still left in the mansion compared to its usual numbers.

That night the three of them stayed together. Mia shared Jean’s bed, staring at the wall the entire night unable to sleep. It was dead silent. She never had a sleepover before, at least not a real one. This still didn’t feel like a real one. They were all scared for their friends locked up below in the infirmary. Mia could tell by the atmosphere in the room that the other two girls weren’t asleep – it was too tense. It was hard to distract her thoughts, to even shut her eyes without thinking of him. Jean was in her head; she knew when her terrorizing thoughts of Warren being hurt were being replaced by fond memories she had of him. It was a nice distraction, one she desperately needed.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The angel isn't doing too hot and it breaks her heart.

Two days.  


It took two whole days until she was allowed into the infirmary. Scott came out the day before with his arm in a sling and his face covered in bruises. The first thing he did was seek out Jean and hug her as best as he could. Mia envied the two of them, they cared a lot for each other. The three of them went in shifts to visit Kurt, giving him Mia’s haphazardly put together ‘get well soon’ card. Apparently, he loved it, according to Jubilee. She wanted to know about Warren too but no one said anything. For the longest time she thought he was dead and no one knew how to tell her.

Which was how she was allowed in two days later when she started crying to Jean asking if the angel was dead. Her friends were in full panic mode when they saw her with tears running down her face, shaky hands struggling to form the words. The worried look on Jean’s face only made things worse. Scott had to step in and reassure Mia that Warren was in fact very much alive. With the Professors permission Jubilee escorted Mia to the infirmary, she was going to visit Kurt anyways. The girl stopped outside of the door, grabbing Mia to stop her before going in.

“You should know that he’s really sick,” Jubilee spoke softly.

“Sick?” Mia signed.

“Sometimes after surgery there’s risk for infection and it took a long time to patch him up after. He started getting sick a few hours after the hospital brought him back here so just be careful okay?” Jubilee explained.

Mia nodded, her friend releasing her arm so she can head into the infirmary. The door already squeaked too loudly for her liking. It was quite dark, much darker than usual due to the lights being purposely dimmed. The beds were usually empty, no one was really ever hurt to the point where they needed to stay the night. She laid eyes on Kurt first. The blue mutant was sitting up in bed with bandages wrapped around his torso. His eyes lit up when he saw her, grinning when she came to give him a hug. He winced when she squeezed just a little too hard. Immediately she let go and profusely signed apologies to him.

“How are you feeling?” Jubilee asked, taking a seat on the chair next to his bed.

“Better than yesterday. I can leave soon,” he said, sounding quite relieved.

She tried her best to pay attention to him. It was terrible to not feel as worried for him as she was for Warren. Her eyes left him and swept the room, laying eyes on the figure curled up on one of the last beds.

“He’s been asking for you,” Kurt whispered.

She looked back to Kurt, “Really?”

“The meds he’s on are making him a little loopy, he’s not all there keep that in mind,” Jubilee added in a hushed voice.

Kurt waved her off to go see Warren, a grin plastered to his face. She tried so very carefully to not sprint across the room to him. She stopped just before his bed, his back to her. There were bandages peeking out from the back of the hospital gown. Immediately she noticed the lack of wings and for a moment she didn’t believe it was him. Slowly she walked around the bed making sure her footsteps were as quiet as possible. She noticed he was shaking, ever so slightly. The empty chair squeaked when she lowered herself onto it, cringing at the noise. One of his eyes popped open at the sound. He closed his eye again, not believing it was actually her.

“Warren,” she whispered his name.

He opened his eyes again to gaze at her. Mia noticed that he was still shaking, left arm wrapped around himself. His right arm hung half off the bed, IV stuck in his hand making sure he was hydrated and medicated. She reached out and cautiously placed her hand in his, he curled his fingers around her hand squeezing. A shaky sigh of relief escaped his lips.

“You’re so cold,” she whispered.

If he could hear her, he didn’t act like it. She noticed the way his blue eyes slowly drifted around to take in his surroundings. There wasn’t much to look at as he was facing the wall. It was strange seeing him this way. She reached out with her free hand and smoothed the blond curls matted to his forehead out of the way. The slightest movements made her hand ache, bandage still wrapped tightly around it. Her fingers ghosted down the side of his face, bandaged palm coming to rest against his cheek. Warren noticed immediately and opened his mouth to speak.

Mia shook her head, “Picking up glass,”

Her voice was incredibly soft and almost like velvet whenever she spoke. The dreary blond was only able to nod. She smoothed her thumb across one of the metallic tattoos that followed his cheekbone. He turned his head in her hand, pressing a kiss to her bandaged palm. Mia went stalk still, feeling all the heat rush to her face. The interaction was sweet and he turned his head back seconds after, eyes falling closed.

Mia stayed in the infirmary for a long time. The Nurse that would periodically come to the mansion to check up on them arrived a few hours later to administer more medication and check Kurt out. She was a rather mean looking woman with greying hair and a crooked nose, she also had a mean case of resting bitch face. The older woman gave Mia a pointed look when she came over to Warren’s bed. Mia let go of his hand and stood, stepping out of the Nurse’s way. She watched the woman shuffle around loudly to the point where Warren woke up. His eyes were wide and he searched around until he saw Mia, only then did he relax a little.

The Nurse walked around to the other side of the bed to re-dress his stitches. Mia noticed the way the woman eyed her. It was a painful process and just seeing the pained look on his face made Mia squirm. The Nurse continued, not paying any mind to the way he was reacting to her rather fast paced and harsh movements.

“Be gentle!” Mia blurted out, unable to hold her tongue for any longer.

Kurt who was getting ready to leave looked over to them. He raised an eyebrow, glancing between the Nurse and Mia. She was lucky Kurt was so nice, perhaps if he wasn’t, he would’ve said something. The Nurse was there for twenty minutes tops. Mia sat back down once she was out of the infirmary.

“She’s a bitch,” Warren muttered.

“What?” she signed.

He shifted around on his side, “Knows who I am and what I did with Apocalypse and shit,”

“I can tell Professor Xavier,” she signed, going to stand from her chair when he grabbed her hand.

“Not worth it, everyone fuckin’ hates me anyways,” he mumbled.

A frown formed on her face as soon as she heard those words. In the back of her mind she knew he wasn’t thinking straight. The morphine administered was of course going to have him saying weird things. But when she looked into his eyes, she had a suspicion that he actually believed those things about himself.

“I don’t,” she whispered, sitting back down in the chair.

The angel fell back asleep again soon after. Mia got comfortable, pulling the chair up so she was right next to his bed. It was easier than having to lean over whenever he wanted to hold her hand. Kurt came over to see him before leaving. He even stayed for a while and brought Mia food later around dinner time. The blue mutant was sweet and she made sure to thank him before he left. She got comfortable, she wasn’t going to leave until he was better and that was a promise.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warren is going to get a lot worse before he gets better and Mia is ready for it.

The infection got better with time. That sickly hue his skin had all but cleared up in a few days. It looked like the antibiotics were doing the trick. He wasn’t shaking anymore and he was able to hold down most of the food he was given. This afternoon was particularly boring and Mia could see that he was becoming irritated. Mia hadn’t really left the infirmary since she was first allowed in, only periodically getting up to use the washroom. Today was the first time Warren consciously saw himself in the mirror. She helped him to the washroom and when he saw himself in the mirror he stopped to stare.

It was different, in fact she was still getting used to the lack of wings herself. He went to reach back, to touch the space where they used to be but Mia quickly swatted his hand away. The last thing she needed was him poking at his stitches. But that was twenty minutes ago. Now she was sitting quietly next to his bed twiddling her thumbs unsure of what to say or even do. She probably smelled terrible; she hadn’t showered in days.

“Do you need anything?” she signed.

He was quiet, shifting around on the bed. Warren had stuck to lying on his side, even when he had to sit he was stalk still. Something sharp hit her in the chest whenever she saw him wince in pain. It was slowly eating away at her. The door to the infirmary opened and she looked over immediately to see Jean walking over. Her pace was quick, she seemed completely different to how she was a few days ago. The redhead stopped at the foot of the bed, Warren looking over his shoulder for a moment to see who was here only to roll his eyes and turn his head back.   
“The Professor needs to speak with you Mia,” she informed, eyes quickly shooting to Warren’s back and then back to Mia.

“Can it wait?” Mia signed, a frown on her face.

“No, it’s pretty important. I’ll stay and watch him if you want,” Jean proposed.

Mia reluctantly agreed, she couldn’t exactly say no to the Professor. The blond didn’t seem all too pleased that he was being left with Jean. The two of them didn’t exactly get along the best of times. Mia was lucky he was too out of it still to try and start a fight with Jean.

“I’ll be back,” she signed, taking his hand and squeezing it.

He squeezed back for a moment; eyes trained on her as he let go. Jean moved her chair away from the bed, as it was pushed up right against it, and took a seat. She flashed Mia a rather forced smile, sinking back into the chair with her arms crossed. Her sharp eyes flickered to the blond who flipped her off once Mia’s back was turned.

The Professor was waiting for her in the front foyer of the mansion. There was still a gaping hole in the wall and the doors were missing. It was quite cold, some snow even blowing inside. She wrapped her arms around herself as she approached, seeing her breath appear when she sighed. Charles was staring out through the gaping hole to the snowy front yard, a green scarf wrapped around his neck. She walked up and stopped next to his chair, narrowing her eyes to try and figure out what he was exactly looking at.

“Mr. Worthington is going to get worse before he gets any better,” he said rather abruptly.

It took Mia off guard, “What?” she signed quickly.

She spun around on her heel to face him just as his chair adjusted so he could face her. In that moment she felt the familiar sensation that was panic bubbling in her stomach. He just started getting better and now she was told he was going to get worse. She didn’t understand. The Professor motioned with his head for her to follow him when a strong gust of wind blew inside. She nodded, shivering, and followed him down the corridor to get away from the cold. It was going to be fixed soon, Kurt told her that some construction guys were there the other day assessing the damages. The school was so empty, devoid of any chatter and students running around.

“Mr. Worthington has a unique physiology as a mutant, did you know that?” he asked, stopping by a door and peeking inside at the empty classroom.

She shook her head.

“His is rather reoccurring, in a sense. Most mutants with physical body mutations do not have the ability to grow their mutation back whereas Mr. Worthington does,” he explained, looking back to make sure she understood.

Mia remembered Warren mentioning something like that to her before. Something about how his father used to cut his wings off but they would always grow back. They approached the library down the hall and turned into it. She noticed the change in temperature as soon as they were inside. Warmth washed over her body in waves. Charles picked up a few books that were left on a nearby table, placing them on his lap. She followed him around, helping him put them back on the shelves.

“I can entrust you with caring for him?” Charles asked while handing her a book.

Mia took it and nodded.

“I trust you to keep a close eye on him, now more than ever,” he continued.

The book slid perfectly in place, once again she nodded. Mia would never do anything to hurt Warren, not on purpose. They put a few more books away. Throughout that tiny bit of housekeeping Charles kept informing her of things to look out for regarding Warren. She also got permission to allow him to stay in her room, after all she didn’t have a roommate. It would be tough and she would have to sleep with one eye open. She still worried about talking in her sleep and in his condition, she didn’t want to do anything to him that could hurt him more. Charles dismissed her not long after and right away she headed up to her room.

It wasn’t too unkempt; in fact, it looked the same from when she left. But now that she knew someone else was going to be in here, she did some tidying. In her head she knew that if Jean really needed her to come back, she would call out to her mentally. She remade the spare bed, sheets wrinkled from when Warren fell asleep on them last. The next thing she did was basic tidying, picking any clothes up off the floor and decluttering the other bedside table. The washroom was an easy clean, all she did was toss out any empty shampoo bottles and organized them all to the side. Overall, she wasn’t an overly messy person.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror and jumped at the state she was in. Her hair was a tangled mess, bags under her eyes, not to mention she had been wearing the same clothes for days. So she took a quick shower, scrubbing herself clean and brushing her teeth two times after stepping out. Before heading back down to the infirmary she went to Warren’s room a few doors down to gather some of his things. His room was messier than hers by miles. She gathered whatever clothes weren’t on the floor and brought them back to her room, putting them in the spare dresser and hanging some in the closet.

Mia grabbed a few other things he might want and brought them back to hers as well. By the time she came back to the infirmary it was already dinner time. Jean jumped up from her chair, bidding Warren a rather brisk goodbye before leaving. He looked glad to see Mia again, sick of spending so much forced time with Jean. Warren looked her up and down, noticing the new clothes and wet hair. For a second, she saw a flash of jealousy in his eyes, probably feeling gross as well.

“Come on,” she signed, motioning after for him to get up.

“What?” he asked, sounding almost annoyed.

“No more of here,” she explained, signing slowly.

Instantaneously his eyes lit up with the smallest bit of joy. Anything was better than the infirmary. It was so desolate, aesthetically boring, and not to mention it smelled heavily of antiseptic. The Nurse took his IV out earlier so the only thing he had to do now was make it from the infirmary to Mia’s room. He actually had yet to know that he was to be her new temporary roommate. Warren had to get up, refusing any type of help that she offered. It made her anxious watching him push himself off the bed. He was a little wobbly and not to mention in a hell of a lot of pain.

He refused her help all the way to the door of the infirmary which was when he gave in. When she offered her help again, he didn’t push her away this time. She loosely wrapped her left arm around his lower back, right hand holding his to help him keep balance. The mansion was dead quiet, everyone that was still here had long retired to their rooms. With the gaping holes still in the front foyer no one was really comfortable with lingering outside of their rooms longer than necessary.

When they reached her room, it was safe to say that he was a tad confused. Mia had to explain, rather awkwardly what the plan was. As soon as she managed to sign everything, she wanted to say his face fell and he shook his head, trying to stand to leave. Her eyes widened and she gently grabbed his shoulders pushing him back to sit down on the bed again.

“No, you’re not fucking babysitting me,” he hissed.

“Warren,” she whispered sharply.

He continued trying to fight her, “I know what he bloody told you. It’s not a fucking pretty sight and I don’t need you seeing it,”

“I know,” she affirmed.

“Mia,” he warned.

She released his shoulders but still didn’t step back, practically glaring down at him. There was heat radiating off her in waves she was so angry. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, to blurt out like it wouldn’t hurt him. Sometimes he was so stupid and she couldn’t understand why. That self-destructive and closed-off nature than made him refused any sort of help. Her hands were moving to their own accord, a flurry of fast-paced and sharp signs in his face. Warren couldn’t understand it that fast and she knew that but at that moment she was so angry.

After a minute he reached out and grabbed both of her wrists, holding her hands in place. Mia’s eyes narrowed directing a sharp glare at his face. All she wanted to do was make sure he was okay.

“Why can’t you just leave it?” he asked sincerely.

“Because you’re somebody I care about and I couldn’t live with myself if I left you alone in pain knowing I can help,” she whispered quickly.

He let go of her wrists, letting his head fall into her. What she didn’t expect was for him to wrap his arms around her waist and hug her, head still leaning against her stomach. Mia stood there for a moment startled, unsure of what to do. Again, Warren hardly ever initiated physical contact with anyone especially Mia. She knew that he liked being touched because whenever she reached out to hold his hand, he would take it or if she hugged him, he would practically bury himself into her. Her hand fell into his hair feeling the blond curls twist around her fingers. A few minutes later and she suddenly felt heavier.

When he didn’t move, she almost had a panic attack thinking he died on her. But low and behold he was breathing. She gently nudged his shoulder with her hand, he was awake in seconds staring up at her blearily.

“You need to change,” she signed, motioning to the hospital gown he was still wearing.

He mumbled something incoherent as she helped him up and to the washroom. The next thing she did was dig through the clothes she brought in earlier, pulling out whatever looked most comfortable to wear. She waited outside of the washroom for him to figure himself out, she probably stood there for a solid ten minutes. When the door opened, she raised an eyebrow at the shirt in his hands that was supposed to be on his body.

He looked down at the floor, “It hurt, a lot,”

Mia nodded, taking the shirt from him and walking over to put it away in the dresser. When she turned back around, she saw his back, he stopped halfway across the room when he felt her staring. The lamp bathed him in an orange light. Where his wings used to be there was now sticky white bandage pads attached to his back. She could only image how big the stitches were underneath there. Her eyes travelled along the rest of his back noticing the other scars. She didn’t see him shirtless often so when she did, she was always astonished by all the scars that covered just his torso alone.

When he caught her gaze she quickly looked away, going back to fold the shirt and stuffing it into the drawer. The drawer closed and she turned around, walking to the other side of her room to her own drawer. It rattled as she pulled it open, digging through the top drawer for some pajamas. Mia got ready in the washroom, pulling the flowy shorts on only for her stomach to growl. She realized then that she hadn’t actually had dinner yet, missing it to go back for Warren. The angel was sitting on the edge of the bed that would be his for the next little while, shoulders hunched and hands gripping the edge.

She lingered by the washroom door, “Going to get food, want any?” she signed.

He shook his head.

The kitchen was empty when she got downstairs. There wasn’t much to go through in the pantry; it was more and the same. She made some soup, cracking open the can and putting it in a microwavable dish and heating it up. Mia was down there for fifteen minutes tops, grabbing some granola bars before heading back upstairs. The door creaked when she opened it, peeking inside to see him lying stomach down on the bed. She closed the door softly behind her and crept over to his bed. He was fast asleep, face half buried in the fluffy pillow. The granola bars were left on the bedside table and she took one of the blankets gently draping it over him.

She walked over to her bed and sat down, pulling her legs up and underneath the blankets. Her body sunk down into the bed, turning onto her side she reached over to turn off the lamp. Her eyes drifted over to him, eyebrows knit together and soft breaths escaping his lips. It was going to be a long recovery and Mia didn’t doubt that it was going to be hard. Warren was already declining help, out of stubbornness and embarrassment. She also knew that at times she was going to be the very thing he hated. But she was ready for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating recently! Another chapter is soon to come don't worry!


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